Goldquest raises $8.7 million for Dominican gold-copper project
Goldquest Mining Corp. [GQC-TSXV] said it has raised $8.7 million from a non-brokered private placement financing and will use part of the proceeds to advance the company’s Romero gold/copper project in the Dominican Republic.
Under the terms of the private placement, Goldquest issued 45.8 million common shares, priced at 19 cents per share, a move that will increase the company’s cash on hand to over $15 million.
On Thursday, Goldquest shares were up 5.8% or $0.015 to 27.5 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 26.5 cents and $0.075.
“We are thrilled to welcome our new investors, all of whom are prominent members of the Dominican Republic’s business community,’’ said Goldquest CEO Luis Santana. “Their confidence in our vision underscores the strong potential of the Romero project and our exploration activities,’’ he said.
“The Romero gold-copper project represents a low-impact underground mining development opportunity with the potential to serve as a significant economic driver for San Juan province and the Dominican Republic as a whole,’’ the company has said.
The project, which includes the Romero and Romero South deposits, is located in the La Escandalosa exploration concession of Goldquest’s Tireo Property, which covers 3,997 hectares. The Tireo Property (also sometimes known as the San Juan concession) is located in the Central Cordillera of the Dominican Republic near the San Juan provincial capital of San Juan de La Maguana.
Santana said the company is committed to advancing the environmental permit application process with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, updating the economic assessments, and furthering exploration along the highly prospective Tireo formation.
Aside from further exploration on the Tireo formation properties, proceeds of the private placement will be used to progress the permitting process, update the company’s pre-feasibility study to a definitive feasibility study in preparation for project development.
The main Romero gold/copper deposit was discovered by GoldQuest in 2012. A 2016 pre-feasibility study returned an after-tax net present value of US$204 million at 5% and an IRR of 28%, plus an all-in-sustaining cost of US$595 an ounce. It is worth noting that the study done at US$1,300 an ounce for gold and US$2.50 a pound for copper.
The company has outlined a maiden probable reserve of 7.03 million tonnes, containing 840,000 ounces of gold, 980,000 ounces of silver and 136 million pounds of copper.
Total indicated resources stand at 20.3 million tonnes, grading 2.67 g/t gold, 0.61% copper, 0.30% zinc, 4.0 g/t silver or 3.48 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq), containing 1.73 million ounces of gold and 2.26 million ounces of AuEq.
The planned 2,800 tonne-per-day underground mine focuses on the high-grade gold and copper “core” of the Romero Deposit to produce a saleable copper concentrate for shipment to offshore refineries.
Over half of Romero’s mineral resources are not included in the mine plan, as well as the entirety of Romero South. The unmined portion of the resources leaves significant room for potential expansion, the company has said.