TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – US miner Allied Nevada Gold on Friday said it had closed a bought deal equity financing with a syndicate of underwriters for $150.5-million.

Allied Nevada issued 14-million shares at a price of $10.75 apiece. The syndicate of underwriters was led by Dundee Securities and included Cormark Securities.

The company said the underwriters had the option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time for up to 30 days after the closing of the offering, to buy up to 2.1-million shares more, at $10.75 apiece. If the over-allotment option was exercised, the proceeds of the offering would total $173.07-million.

Allied Nevada said it planned to use the proceeds to fund capital expenditures at its Hycroft mine, near Winnemucca in north-west Nevada, and for general corporate purposes.

At the end of April, Allied Nevada said it was reviewing the $1.24-billion expansion of the Hycroft mine, saying it was mulling a phased approach to reach the intended 130 000 t/d milling capacity once a first phase was operating to plan.

The company said it might now rather construct a 75 000 t/d plant in 2015. The benefit would be to have more time to optimise the engineering, which could result in reduced capital expenditure when the time was right to construct the second phase.

The Phase 1 plant would at first only process higher-grade oxide and transition ore, leach that ore on site and only produce sulphide concentrate in line with demand.

Many gold and silver miners recently announced cost-cutting to try to protect their earnings in the face of falling precious metal prices.

Allied Nevada said it had already spent or committed $123.5-million, or 58% of the capital budget. The company said it expected this year’s budget for the project’s expansion to total about $394.9-million, but noted that it might change if the company decided to proceed with constructing a smaller-than-expected mill.

The Nevada-based company’s TSX-listed stock had slid 75% from the start of the year and on Friday traded at C$7.22 apiece.