Pacific Ridge declares $5 million bought deal

Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. [PEX-TSXV, PEXZF-OTCQB] has announced details of a $5 million bought deal financing, with proceeds earmarked for exploration at the company’s flagship Kliyul copper-gold project, which is located in the Quesnel trough in northwest British Columbia.

Part of the proceeds will also be used to fund exploration at the company’s other B.C. projects.

The company said a syndicate of underwriters has agreed to purchase for resale 15.6 million flow-through share units at 32 cents each. Each flow-through unit will consist of one common share to be issued as a flow-through share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant.

Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share for 40 cents at any time on or before that date which is 24 months after the closing date, likely around December 22, 2022. The company has granted the underwriters a green shoe option to purchase up to an additional 3.12 million flow through units, potentially adding up to $1 million to the proceeds. The option is exercisable for up to 48 hours prior to the closing date.

Details of the financing were announced after the close of trading on December 1, 2022, when Pacific Ridge shares closed at 29 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 59 cents and 17 cents.

Pacific Ridge has said it aims to be a leading copper-gold in British Columbia. The flagship Kliyul copper-gold project is located in a similar environment to other copper-gold porphyry deposits in B.C., including Centerra Gold Inc.’s [CG-TSX, CGAU-NYSE] Kemess project, and Mt. Milligan projects….

Spearheaded by a highly experienced management team, Pacific Ridge is working to test the theory that an underlying porphyry at Kliyul may be similar to the one which generated the deep high-grade Newcrest’s Red Chris porphyry further to the northeast.

In keeping with that goal, the company drilled three holes in a maiden program in 2021 in a bid to extend mineralization laterally and to depth.

Highlights from the first three holes included 437 metres of 0.61% copper equivalent (CuEq) or 0.96 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq), consisting of 0.22% copper and 0.60 g/t gold.

Aside from Kliyul, the company’s portfolio includes the RDP, Onjo and Redton copper-gold projects, which are also located in B.C.  Pacific Ridge can earn a 51% interest in Kliyul and Redton  from a unit of Centerra Gold. It also has three gold projects located in the Canadian Yukon.

Pacific Ridge recently optioned the RDP project to a subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC [LSE-ANTO], a recognized global leader in porphyry exploration and development. Located west of Kliyul, RDP covers 10,000 hectares and contains several recognized porphyry copper-gold targets that have been explored intermittently since the early 1970s.

Antofagasta can earn a 75% interest in the project by spending $10 million over eight years and delivering a NI-43-101 compliant preliminary economic assessment.