- 01$25m raise lifts pro-forma cash to $32.7m.
- 02Funds Ritz drilling to grow its 351,000oz resource.
- 03HHH and Observation drilling hit high-grade gold.
Torque Metals (ASX: TOR) has received firm support for a $25 million capital raising to accelerate growth and discovery at its Ritz gold project in Western Australia.
Leading international and domestic resource specialist institutions have backed the share placement, which will help the company execute its “Rapid Path to One Million Ounces” (Project RPM) strategy designed to unlock the potential of its significant landholding.
The placement comprised the issue of 131.6 million Torque shares priced at $0.19 each, representing a 7.3% discount to the last closing price of $0.205 per share and a 4.4% discount to the 15-day volume weighted average price of $0.199.
The raising is expected to boost Torque’s pro-forma cash position to $32.7 million, keeping it well-funded to increase the pace and scale of resource growth and exploration at Ritz.
Expanded Exploration Campaign
Proceeds from the placement will underpin an expanded exploration campaign at Ritz featuring extensional and infill drilling across key deposits such as Paris, HHH, and Observation, with the aim of growing the current mineral resource estimate of 351,000 ounces at 3.1 grams per tonne gold.
Funds will also be used to acquire infrastructure and equipment to support exploration, as well as to test regional targets across the broader South Kalgoorlie Gold Camp alongside ongoing geophysical downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveys.
Chief executive officer Craig Jones said the raising offered the financial capacity to execute Project RPM around existing deposits where there is considerable opportunity for growth.
“We believe Ritz has the geological ingredients and scale to justify an exploration campaign of this magnitude, and this placement gives us the financial firepower to deliver on Project RPM with real momentum,” he said.
Resource Growth Drilling
Growth drilling across the HHH and Observation deposits in September delivered multiple high-grade hits, opening up new discovery opportunities for Torque.
Assays from multi-rig diamond and reverse circulation campaigns across multiple lodes returned 300 metres down plunge from the MRE, the deepest gold intercept to date at HHH, with updated DHEM modelling confirming it was associated with a large-scale mineralised structure.
Best results were 8.9m at 17.5g/t gold from 344m, 2m at 7.57g/t gold from 148m, and 1m at 8.91g/t gold associated with an earlier multi-ounce intercept of 11m at 456g/t gold from 120m.
The first RC drilling at Observation since 2024 also returned high-grade intercepts including 3m at 4.06g/t gold from 81m, 4m at 3.49g/t gold from 67m, and 3m at 8.82g/t gold from 151m, confirming potential to expand the deposit.
Growth drilling continues as part of Project RPM, with a systematic RC program also underway at the Strauss deposit to test the broader extent of historical mineralisation.
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