Rich-lister Tim Roberts tips another $7m into coking coal play Atrum

Coking coal play Atrum (ASX:ATU) has successfully raised $22m at an issue price of 23c per share to complete a pre-feasibility study (PFS) on its Elan project in Canada.

Of this $22m, rich-lister and existing shareholder Tim Roberts from Warburton Group tipped in $7m. This will give him a ‘blocking stake’ of 19.9 per cent in the $115m market cap company.

Mineral explorers and developers represent a ‘high-risk, high-reward’ investment — most will never make a single dollar of profit — which makes raising cash a tough proposition at the best of times. During the current recessionary economic environment, it becomes even tougher to attract that speculative capital.

Atrum — one of Stockhead’s Top 10 Resources Performers of 2019 — is now well-funded to complete a PFS on its low-cost, high-return Elan hard coking (steelmaking) coal project in southern Alberta, Canada.

This study is due for completion in mid-2021, subject to the “length and extent of COVID-19 related operating restrictions” managing director Max Wang says.

“We continue to assess the operating environment around COVID-19 and, while safety remains our overarching priority, we will be actively looking to ramp up on-the-ground drilling activities and PFS work at the first, safe available opportunity.”

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