Sunshine Metals plans to use the funds to complete drilling across the high-grade 1.6km Liontown footwall. Pic via Getty Images
Sunshine Metals is roaring after inking $4m placement to begin gold-copper focused drilling at Liontown
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- Sunshine Metals completes $4m placement, fast-tracking exploration at Liontown
- Lion Selection Group emerges as a substantial shareholder
- First assays from the existing program are expected in April
Special Report: A $4 million placement to institutional and sophisticated investors is set to accelerate exploration at Sunshine’s Liontown project in Queensland.
The placement comes off the back of a productive first six months for Sunshine Metals (ASX:SHN) at Liontown which not only included the processing ~6,000m of diamond core and a new model for targeting high-grade gold-copper, but also the completion of two successful reverse circulation (RC) drilling programs.
Drilling resulted in a hefty boost, or 116% increase, in indicated resources to 1.85Mt @ 10.9% zinc equivalent, as well as improvements to contained gold and copper.
The project, near Charters Towers, is part of SHN’s broader Ravenswood Consolidated project in a district which has produced over 20Moz gold and 14Mt of VMS ore (copper-gold, zinc-lead).
Busy 12 months ahead
SHN managing director Dr Damien Keys says the next 12 months will be even busier with drilling and field activities targeting resource growth at the Liontown Gap Zone, as well as gold-copper discoveries regionally.
Funds raised will be specifically applied to advance drilling in the 1.6km long footwall, where recent results returned 17m @ 22.1g/t gold from 67m and 20m @ 18.2g/t gold from 114m.
Drilling is currently under way with several RC pre-collars complete and diamond drilling ongoing in the Gap Zone.
SHN plans to expand the drilling program following the placement with first assays from the existing program expected to be received in April.
Continuous newsflow for Sunshine
“Early-stage drilling will also be completed at several exciting, shallow gold prospects such as Tigertown, Coronation, Trooper Creek and Highway East while follow up drilling will be undertaken at Wilbur’s Hill – a Mt Wright-style breccia pipe gold target,” Keys says.
“This all amounts to continuous news flow and an exciting 2024 ahead for Sunshine.”
The $4 million placement was carried out at an issue price of 11c per share to institutional and sophisticated investors over two tranches.
Lion Selection Group (ASX:LSX) has emerged as a substantial holder in SHN, while a prominent North American gold fund also took part in the placement.
Participants will receive one attaching unlisted option for every three shares allocated in the placement, exercisable at 3c and expiring on 30 September 2025.
SHN expects to complete Tranche 1 of the placement and issue those shares on or about 2 April 2024, while the settlement and issue of the Tranche 2 shares and placement options are expected on or about 16 May 2024.
Shareholder approval will be sought in May 2024 to issue 57,634,253 Tranche 2 shares to new investors, directors and for the issue of the placement options.
This article was developed in collaboration with Sunshine Metals, 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.
