Gold miner Alliance Resources (ASX: AGS) just completed a $4 million dollar capital raising and its non-executive chairman bought $1.5 million in shares.

Ian Gandel, through his investment trusts (Abbotsleigh Pty Ltd), bought 16,478,719 Alliance shares in for a total of $1,565,478.30.

Gandel has been on Alliance’s board since 2003 and according to Bloomberg now owns 34 per cent of the company with a total ownership of 49 million shares.

He is the son of billionaire property magnate John Gandel and also sits on the board of Alkane Resources (ASX: ALK).

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Fellow directors Stephen Johnston and Anthony Lethlean also chipped in, buying $67,059.55 and $27,906.35 respectively.

Ths placement comes after they bought the remainder of their joint venture-operated gold project from Tyranna Resources in South Australia. The purchase also included an 80-person accommodation village.

While the company admitted the $1.5 million cost depleted the company’s reserves, making the capital raise necessary, they said the opportunity was too good to refuse.

The maiden Mineral Resource Estimate was 1.097 million tonnes grading 5.1 g/t gold for 181,000 oz gold – 0.59Mt was indicated and 0.51Mt inferred.  Early drilling results are being analysed by geotechnical consultants.

Alliance shares opened unchanged today at 9.4 cents. Although they have fallen by more than a third since October, they have been slowly recovering from a low of 8.7 cents reached in late March.


 

In other ASX corporate news today

The board of takeover target Alto Metals (ASX: AME) has strongly recommended shareholders reject the takeover bid by Middle Island Resources (ASX: MDI). The gold miner said the offer was, “fundamentally opportunistic and timed to suit MDI’s best interests without reference to the inherent value of Alto”. Alto also pointed out that its three largest shareholders (who according to Bloomberg are ex-chairman Terry Wheeler, Sinotech Hong Kong Corp and Enterprise Metals), who hold 32.12 per cent between them, would reject the offer.
 
Pensana Metals (ASX: PM8) wants to list on the London Stock Exchange and today it announced the hiring of local broker RFC Ambrian. The rare earths earths explorer is looking to tap into the US$4.5 trillion market and has appointed RFC Ambrian to “increase investor awareness of the Pensana story”.

RFC Ambrian’s boss Charles Cryer said the “NdPr space offers a fantastic opportunity for investors; and Pensana’s world class resource, excellent logistics and strong business model gives them a terrific platform from which to deliver superior returns”. There is no word as to whether Pensana will be dual-listed or delist from the ASX and become London-only based.
 
A significant problem iron ore miner Fenix Resources (ASX: FEX) faced was that its project was 490km away from the Geraldton port. But today it announced a joint venture with trucking company Minehaul, meaning significant savings on transportation costs.

This is not just a client relationship, it is a formal joint venture with a third company (Premium Minehaul) being formed which the two companies will each hold 50 per cent of. As part of the deal Minehaul has subscribed for $250,000 in Fenix shares – with the final purchase subject to shareholder approval.
 
The most notable notable cash flow query the ASX sent out in the last 24 hours was medtech firm Adherium (ASX: ADR). Despite estimating cash outflows next quarter to be $600,000 more than it currently had in the kitty, it told the ASX it had no plans to raise capital. The company admitted continued operation was dependent on continued customer wins and expense management.

But company secretary Rob Turnbull was confident in the company’s future. He told the ASX, “The Company expects to be able to continue its operation and to meet its business objectives for the foreseeable future”.
 

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Fenix Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.