Gold exploration and development company Katoro Gold has raised £215 000 through the placing and subscription of 17.2-million new ordinary shares at 1.25p a share.
This will provide the company with additional working capital and further bolster its ability to continue uninterrupted work on its projects during the current uncertainty and unpredictability associated with Covid-19.
The fundraising also enables Katoro to meet the final balance of the R15-million loan owed to the Blyvoor joint venture (JV).
Work on the preliminary economic assessment and scoping study for the Blyvoor JV gold tailings project is progressing well.
Katoro executive chairperson Louis Coetzee says the financing reinforces the working capital of the company at a highly important time in its development.
Good progress has also been made recently on seeking to conclude a transaction with Lake Victoria Gold for the disposal of the company's 100%-owned subsidiary Reef Miners, on similar commercial terms to those previously announced.
The transaction was originally structured to include the disposal of both the Imweru and Lubando projects (which sit within Reef Miners), though will now only involve the disposal of the Imweru project, with Lubando now being retained by the company.
As a result, should the transaction proceed, it will no longer fall to be treated as a fundamental disposal requiring shareholder approval pursuant to Rule 15 of the LSE rules for companies.
Katoro is focused at present on office-based work programmes across its projects, which the company notes are progressing well and have only experienced a small disruption from the changes to working practices around the world, as a result of lockdowns in many countries.