Zijin Mining backs Strickland with $5M strategic | Australian Markets

Strickland Metals share price surged 21 per cent greater to 11 cents after the company bagged a $5 million money injection from Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining to supercharge exploration at its 7.4-million-ounce Rogozna gold-copper juggernaut in Serbia.

The new funding has armed the Australian explorer with a beefed-up battle chest to fast-track the company’s most aggressive drilling assault to this point at Rogozna and as it really works in direction of building its gold stock on the project’s red-hot Gradina deposit.

When the deal settles Zijin will emerge with a 2.4 per cent stake in Strickland by means of a non-brokered placement of more than 54.9M shares at 9.1c every. The placement price carries no low cost to the final traded price and has been set at a premium to the 5 and 10-day volume-weighted average costs.

Zijin Mining is one of the world’s largest mining firms and as a strategic shareholder it might probably convey a lot to the desk for Strickland. Apart from working main mines across the world, the Chinese-based company additionally has substantial copper-gold mines and development property in Serbia.

Zijin has a market capitalisation of more than US$60 billion and has turn into a dominant power in Serbian mining. It operates the Čukaru Peki and Bor copper-gold mines, which collectively maintain a staggering 34 million tonnes of copper and 29 million ounces of gold. Last yr alone, the duo churned out 300,000 tonnes of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold.

While Strickland was not in search of to raise equity capital at present share costs, the numerous advantages of bringing Zijin onto the Strickland share register far outweigh the small dilutionary influence of this strategic placement. Their investment is a robust endorsement of the standard of the 7.4M-ounce AuEq1 Rogozna project in Serbia and the numerous progress being made in direction of our objective of developing a world-class gold-copper operation.

The Rogozna project has quickly grown into a multi-deposit with a present useful resource of 7.4M ounces of gold equal throughout a suite of prospects together with Shanac, Medenovac and Copper Canyon.

With gold costs hovering to new all-time highs of $5269 per ounce in a single day, the company’s gold-only Gradina deposit is taking centre stage because the company fast-tracks a maiden useful resource.

Earlier within the week, Strickland introduced in a sixth drill rig to smash out 20,000 metres of diamond drilling at Gradina, focussing on a shallow, high-priority up-dip zone in direction of floor.

An earlier drilling blitz lit up with cores bearing a number of high-grade gold hits throughout three distinct lodes. Highlights included a cracking 14.3m at 8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 517m, that includes a 2m part of 17.6g/t, and several other huge zones corresponding to 12m at 3.6g/t gold and 6m at 5.7g/t gold.

One lode was tracked 4 instances up-dip from 603m to as shallow as 150m, the place a 48.5m intercept at 3.1g/t gold hinted at a flattening gold seam angling 40 levels to floor.

With mineralisation trending proper up a gold-rich ridge, management says the discover may very well be a game-changer, probably opening the door to a low-cost, horizontal adit from the west.

Strickland now has the six diamond rigs spinning throughout the broader project space and plans to throw the new funds at about 50,000m of further drilling deliberate for the yr. Key priorities embody delivering a maiden useful resource at Gradina, additional useful resource enlargement throughout the broader project space and pushing on with scoping work for development on the project.

Zijin’s vote of confidence additionally helps shore up Strickland’s stability sheet forward of one other huge yr at its Yandal gold project in Western Australia, which holds a JORC useful resource of more than 400,000 ounces.

Strickland says Yandal continues to be a helpful piece of the company’s portfolio and the position funds will assist ongoing exploration throughout each property, in addition to common working capital.

With drills whirring, sources growing and heavyweight backing in its nook, Strickland’s Serbian gold-copper play is heating up – and this latest deal might mark the beginning of one thing very particular.

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