PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The share price of ASX-listed junior Impact Minerals rose by nearly 27% on Friday after the company revealed a A$7.3-million injection from new cornerstone investor Minderoo Group, which is chaired by mining heavyweight Andrew Forrest.

The investment would be made through Mindaroo’s private investment vehicle Squadron Resources.

Under the terms of the transaction, an initial A$2-million would be invested in exchange for an interest-free three-year secured convertible note, convertible into ordinary shares at the lower of 2.1c a share or 80% of Impact’s 30-day volume weighted average price, and 45-million attaching unlisted call options to acquire ordinary shares at 3.25c each.

Subject to shareholder approval, Impact would place A$1-million in ordinary shares, priced at 2.1c each, with more than 26.4-million attaching three-year unlisted call options to acquire ordinary shares at 3.25c each.

Squadron also had the option to invest a further A$1-million into either or both of the high-grade Commonwealth gold/silver/zinc/lead and Broken Hill platinum projects, in New South Wales, to earn a 19.9% interest, after Impact had spent A$2.5-million on the two projects.

Squadron nominee Aaron Hood would also be appointed to the Impact board as a nonexecutive director.

“Securing Squadron as a new cornerstone investor is a milestone development for Impact and its shareholders. In this current downturn in the resources industry, well-funded private investment groups such as Squadron are faced with an almost unlimited number of opportunities to review and so this investment in Impact is a clear statement of the potential of our projects to deliver major discoveries,” said Impact MD Mike Jones.

He noted that the company’s immediate focus was to progress exploration on all of the company’s projects, in particular at Broken Hill, where Impact recently announced the discovery of some high-grade platinum-group metals, as well as its Commonwealth project.

The Minderoo investment would be subject to formal documentation, as well as shareholder approval.

Impact shares were trading at a high of 3.5c a share, up from an opening price of 3.1c a share.