PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Lithium miner Core Lithium will raise A$120-million in an institutional share placement and share purchase plan (SPP) to support its near-term growth initiatives.

The ASX-listed miner on Wednesday announced the launch of a fully underwritten institutional placement, priced at 40c a share. Some 250-million shares will be placed under the company’s existing placement capacity, raising A$100-million.

The offer price represented a 26.6% discount to Core’s last trading price on the ASX, and a 30.2% discount to the company’s five-day volume weighted average share price.

Settlement of the shares will take place on August 21.

In addition to the institutional share placement, Core will also undertake an SPP allowing eligible shareholders to subscribe for up to A$30 000 of additional shares in the company, also at a price of 40c each.

The SPP is targeted to raise a further A$20-million, but Core has retained the right to accept oversubscriptions or to scale back applications.

The SPP will open on August 28 and close on September 15.

“Core has successfully moved from explorer to producer and we are currently working to optimise ramp-up at our Grants openpit mine and progress the substantial opportunity we see in the BP33 mining project. Nearby exploration is also well underway to continue growing our resources and reserves,” said CEO Gareth Manderson.

“During our first quarter of operations at Grants, Core has successfully produced, transported and sold our first cargoes of spodumene concentrate. Core is taking this opportunity to raise equity to deliver on near-term growth projects during Finniss’ ramp-up and continue to progress BP33 early works to maintain the final investment decision timeline.

“In addition, we see potential in the Finniss mineral district with our planned exploration programme over the next 12 months which aims to deliver mine life extensions and further resource definition.”

Manderson told shareholders that as the company continued to ramp up, Core was actively implementing improvement projects to optimise operations and enhance lithia recoveries and plant utilisation to maximise its leverage to strong lithium market conditions in the wake of continued scarce supply and strong demand for lithium.

“We have also received great support from our offtake partners Yahua and Ganfeng Lithium as we work through ramp-up. We appreciate their continued confidence in the Finniss project and the flexibility they have demonstrated through this period.”