Ballard Mining Limited secures A$45M placement for Mt Ida gold project
A retail offer targets another A$5 million, with proceeds for drilling, an accommodation village and work ahead of a mid-2027 investment decision.
Mara Quinlan
Ballard Mining Limited ASXBM1 said on Monday it secured an A$45 million share placement and plans a share purchase plan targeting another A$5 million. Including its A$44.1 million cash balance at Sept. 30, the funding would provide A$94.1 million before costs if the retail offer reaches its target.
Shares traded lower at A$0.65 on the Australian Securities Exchange at 3:36 p.m. AEDT on Monday, according to ASXBM1.
Ballard will issue about 68.2 million new ordinary shares at A$0.66 each. The issue price is 7.7 per cent below the Oct. 7 closing price.
The Oct. 12 budget assigns A$40 million to drilling and A$28 million to a 250-person accommodation village. Mt Ida’s processing facility remains subject to a final investment decision in mid-2027.
Ballard is a Western Australian gold developer, and its September Mt Ida resource update reported 1.84 million ounces at 2.8 grams per tonne. The new drilling budget is split equally between resource growth and infill drilling to prepare the project for development.
"Capital will also be used on ongoing drilling to further grow and derisk the gold inventory from the existing September Mt Ida Mineral Resource update of 1.84Moz at 2.8g/t," managing director Paul Brennan said.
Ballard’s Oct. 12 budget also allocates A$10 million to front-end engineering design and A$3.5 million to road and bore works. Another A$3 million is allocated to a feasibility study that will include a maiden ore reserve statement.
The published use-of-funds table contains no acquisition allocation. Ballard cautioned in its Oct. 12 release that actual spending could differ from the budget and that it can change how the funds are applied.
Google Finance listed 454.74 million shares outstanding at 3:36 p.m. AEDT on Monday on ASXBM1. Against that base, the placement alone would increase the share count by about 15 per cent and reduce a nonparticipating holder’s proportional ownership by about 13 per cent.
Argonaut Securities Pty Limited and Canaccord Genuity (Australia) Limited, part of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. TSECF, are joint lead managers and bookrunners for the placement. The single-tranche placement and retail plan are not underwritten.
The Oct. 8 securities notice sets the maximum retail issue at about 15.15 million shares, allowing A$10 million in subscriptions. That would take the combined raise to A$55 million if Ballard accepts all permitted oversubscriptions.
Eligible holders with Australian or New Zealand registered addresses at the Oct. 7 record date can apply for up to A$30,000 of shares. Placement participants are excluded, and Ballard can scale back applications.
The retail offer is scheduled to run from Oct. 19 to Nov. 9, with results due Nov. 13.
Placement settlement is expected on Oct. 16, with the new shares to be issued and begin trading on Oct. 19.
