Altitude Minerals Funds Nevada Drilling With $2.7m Capital Raise
Altitude Minerals has secured a $1.215 million placement and plans a further $1.487 million rights issue to fund drilling at its Nevada gold-silver projects. The raising offers free options, but shareholders who do not participate in the non-renounceable offer face dilution.
- $1.215 million placement at 0.5 cents per share
- Up to $1.487 million 2-for-3 non-renounceable rights issue
- Funds earmarked for Firenze and Winnemucca drilling
- Free options attached to placement and rights issue
- Director participation and part of placement subject to approval
Placement Secures Nevada Exploration Funding
Altitude Minerals Ltd (ASX:ATT) has secured $1.215 million from sophisticated, professional and institutional investors, giving the Nevada explorer a funded path towards its next drilling program at the Firenze and Winnemucca gold-silver projects.
The placement will issue up to 243 million shares at 0.5 cents each, with one unquoted option for every two shares issued. The options carry a 1-cent exercise price and expire on 30 November 2028. The issue price represents a 37.5% discount to ATT’s last traded close on 14 September and a 28.7% discount to its 15-day VWAP.
Rights Issue Adds Up to $1.5 Million
Altitude will also offer eligible shareholders two new shares for every three held at the 23 September record date, seeking up to a further $1.487 million at the same 0.5-cent price. Each pair of new shares comes with one free option on matching terms.
The offer is non-renounceable, so entitlements cannot be sold. Shareholders who do not take up their allocation may therefore see their ownership percentage reduced, although eligible participants who subscribe in full can apply for additional shares under the shortfall offer.
Drilling Takes Priority Over the New Cash
Altitude says the combined proceeds, before expenses, will be directed principally to drilling at Firenze and Winnemucca in Nevada, alongside business development and general working capital. Managing director Duncan Chessell described the planned program as a chance to drill outcropping veins that produced what he called “bonanza-grade silver and gold rock chips at surface”.
That language points to an exploration campaign built around surface results, not a defined resource or economic study. The filing does not provide drilling results from the new program, so the central test for the capital raise will be whether the funded holes convert those surface indications into meaningful subsurface mineralisation.
Approval Conditions and Extra Securities
Altitude will issue 66.9 million placement shares under its existing 15% capacity. A further 176.1 million shares and about 121.5 million attaching options require shareholder approval, including 63 million shares worth $315,000 committed by directors.
GBA Capital, which is leading the placement and offer, is also due 36 million options subject to approval, in addition to a 6% fee on placement proceeds and any rights issue shortfall it places. The company’s indicative timetable has trading resuming on an ex-entitlement basis on 22 September, with the rights issue due to close on 12 October, although the dates may change.
Bottom Line?
The raise gives Altitude capital to test its Nevada targets, but the investment case now turns on drilling results, shareholder approvals and how much dilution the full funding package creates.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the Firenze and Winnemucca drilling deliver mineralisation beyond the high-grade surface rock-chip results?
- How much of the $1.487 million rights issue will be taken up by existing shareholders?
- Will shareholders approve the director participation, conditional placement securities and broker options?
