Horizonte Minerals Plc raises £18mln to fast-track Araguaia ahead of project
“This capital raise was underpinned by the strength of Horizonte’s investment opportunity and the increasing appetite of investors for nickel,” Jeremy Martin highlighted
() confirmed the closing of its share placing, with the nickel mine developer raising £18mln in total.
The company announced the funding in a statement after Thursday’s close and has this morning reported the result. It is to issue a total of 162.7mln new shares, each priced at 7.5p each, raising a total of £18mln – with £12.2mln raised in a UK placing and £5.8mln raised through an offering of shares in Canada.
The placing is being managed by brokers , Peel Hunt and , whilst the Canadian funding was done by a group of brokers led by Paradigm Capital as the sole bookrunner.
It comes as the company is making good progress towards the larger project financing for the Araguaia mine with a syndicate of lending banks, where the company is seeking a US$325mln senior financing to part-fund construction.
Horizonte said it expects the full project financing package to be completed in the first half of 2021, followed by the start of construction shortly thereafter.
At the same time, the company highlighted a strong short-term outlook for the nickel, which is being driven by an acceleration in the electric vehicle battery sector and steady growth in stainless steel demand. The nickel price is up 43.7% in the past 12 months, Horizonte highlighted.
“This capital raise was underpinned by the strength of Horizonte’s investment opportunity and the increasing appetite of investors for nickel,” said Jeremy Martin, chief executive.
He highlighted that the company’s Araguaia ferronickel project and the Vermelho nickel cobalt project are both high-grade, low-cost mine development opportunities which have the flexibility to supply both the large and established stainless steel market and the rapidly growing electric vehicle battery market.
“Horizonte is at a very exciting time as we transition to becoming a nickel producer,” he said.
“We have a scalable production profile that will position the company as a significant nickel producer globally. As part of this transition, it is important that we continue to attract large, long-term institutional shareholders to support our growth.”
Martin added that the injection of funds provide Horizonte with a strong balance sheet as it enters the next phase of its evolution through the advancement of Araguaia to the start of construction – and the funding enables critical path workstreams to be fast-tracked.
Read More: Horizonte Minerals Plc raises £18mln to fast-track Araguaia ahead of project