FireFly Metals raising $188 million for Newfoundland copper project
FireFly Metals Ltd. [FFM-TSX, ASX] is seeking to raise A$190 million (C$188 million) through the sale of new Australian and Canadian shares to fund development of its Green Bay copper-gold project in Newfoundland.
The Perth-based company will raise A$180 million before costs through an Australian institutional placement of 101.1 million ordinary shares, with shares offered at A$1.78 a share (C$1.76).
The company is raising C$29.6 million via a bought deal private placement of approximately 16.8 million new shares priced at $1.76 per share. The new shares under the TSX bought deal will be offered in Canada by way of the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (LIFE) in all of the provinces in Canada, excluding Quebec.
FireFly also intends to undertake a non-underwritten share purchase plan (SPP) to raise up to an additional A$10 million at the same offer price as the institutional placement of A$1.78 per new share.
On Tuesday, Firefly shares were unchanged at $1.87 and trade in a 52-week range of $2.30 and $1.04.
Following the release of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) highlighting a technically and economically robust project, the company intends to use the funds to continue de-risking, advancing and growing its Green Bay copper project. This includes early project works, procurement of long-lead capital items, advancing a feasibility study for the 1.8 million tonnes per annum base case scenario and a pre-feasibility study on the larger 4.6 million tonne per annum alternative scenario, and further resource growth ahead of the final investment decision by mid-2027.
The company said the PEA shows the potential for a high-grade, low-cost and long-life operation with a pathway to produce 100,000 tonnes of copper annually. The project is underpinned by 60.2 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources at 2.43% for 1.46 million tonnes of copper equivalent (CuEq) and 23.5 million tonnes of inferred resources at 2.51% or 592,000 tonnes of CuEq.
“This raising ensures that we can continue unlocking the value of Green Bay in an expedited manner,’’ said FireFly Director Steve Parsons. “This strategy involves pursuing several avenues of growth and development in parallel, ranging from ongoing exploration through to feasibility studies and ordering long-lead items.’’
Earlier this year, the company said it has passed key milestones on the path to an upscaled production restart at Green Bay.
The company said it has secured environmental approval for the processing plant, construction permitting has commenced and metallurgical tests have returned extremely strong results.
The company is planning a staged resumption of mining operations at Green Bay with the construction of a new processing facility at the mine. The company has received a conditional release from further detailed environmental and socio-economic assessment by the Province of Newfoundland for an initial upscaled restart involving a plant with a throughput capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per annum.