Denver — The Australia-based company
Ranger paid a modest premium to the market price at 28 per share, for proceeds of $1.3 million. The stock had been trading in the range of 16-20 prior to the transaction, which gives Ranger a 19.8% interest in the Denver-based junior explorer.
“We were first attracted to General Minerals by the quality of its exploration projects and management team,” says Guy Travis, Ranger’s managing director.
General Minerals expects to use the money on the Atocha silver project in Bolivia, the Productora copper project in Chile and the Towerbeck gold project in China. During the third quarter, the company saw its cash holdings fall to $1.5 million, down from $3.3 million at the end of the second quarter.
At Atocha, the company has completed trial mining, which entailed trucking ore to a third-party smelter. However, depressed silver prices have since rendered third-party smelting uneconomic.
A portion of the funds from the private placement will be used to continue drilling at Productora, and for tunneling and surface sampling at Towerbeck, in which the company can earn a 71% interest. General Minerals also controls the Vizcachitas and Escalones copper projects, in Chile. Metallurgical tests are planned for the former.
“We are pleased to have Ranger as our major shareholder,” says General Minerals Chairman Ralph Fitch. “Their production experience and solid balance sheet, coupled with our exploration team and prospects, make for an optimum combination.”
Ranger is a mid-tier gold producer based in Perth. Its major asset is a 90% interest in the Damang gold mine in Ghana, which produced 347,000 oz. in fiscal 2000 at an average cash cost of US$191 per oz.
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