Matador’s in the money after heavily oversubscribed share purchase plan

Proving that quality assets draw investor interest in any market, Matador Mining has announced a ‘heavily oversubscribed’ share purchase plan to raise $2.9 million for its frontier gold exploration in Newfoundland.

Matador (ASX:MZZ) owns the 840,000oz Cape Ray gold project in Canada’s underexplored Newfoundland province, down the road from Marathon Gold’s 4.8Moz Valentine Lake gold project.

While some explorers may have trepidation heading to the market for capital in economic times like these, investors have wholeheartedly backed Matador’s exploration strategy, asking for $3.9m of new shares in a raising only intended to net $1m.

MZZ’s board elected to accept $2.9m, with each applicant scaled back pro-rata based on the number of new shares they applied for.

It comes on top of a separate $5m placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors, leaving the company well stocked to drill for gold in Canada.

“We are greatly appreciative of the continued support we have received from our valued retail investors. It’s very clear to me that the investment communities in Australasia and North America strongly support our strategy and believe in the opportunities that exists for us in Newfoundland,” MZZ MD and CEO Sam Pazuki said.

“The Board’s decision to accept applications totaling $2.9 million is a prudent one considering the challenging and volatile state of capital markets recently, particularly for the gold mining industry.

“Despite these challenges, we have successfully placed shares and raised funds with a solid group of institutional and retail investors, and we are committed to drill-test new greenfield targets as we strive to make major new mineral discoveries.”

High-priority targets

The funds raised in the SPP and placement will be used to advance drill target generation in the high-priority Malachite area, and additional targets including Bunker Hill, Grandy’s and Hermitage, as well as working capital.

It will also unlock the inaugural diamond drilling program at Malachite.

Malachite measures 60km2, larger than Marathon Gold’s entire Valentine Lake project, with drilling expected to start at the end of the Canadian summer in September.

“Malachite has defined significant gold anomalism through soil geochemistry testing and, since June 2022, the Company has followed-up with exploration activities to identify diamond drill ready targets,” the company says.

This article was developed in collaboration with Matador Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.