Barton Gold launches $4m capital raising to advance Tunkillia and Tarcoola projects

A $4 million capital raising exercise by Barton Gold (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) to advance its South Australian projects has received firm commitments from investors in Australia, Europe and the US.

The raising will be split into a $3m placement at an issue price of $0.24 per share and a $1m purchase plan for the issue of 4.1 million new shares.

Proceeds are expected to fund scoping studies for the company’s 1.5 million-ounce Tunkillia gold project in the state’s Gawler Craton and the drilling of high-grade gold targets at the nearby Tarcoola project following the development of a new regional structural model.

The capital raising is on an invitation-only basis and focused on a short list of high-quality institutional and sophisticated investors.

Barton has appointed Cumulus Wealth as lead manager to the placement.

The share purchase plan is not being underwritten.

Mill cleanout

The raisings will provide Barton with an estimated $7m pro forma cash balance before receipt of proceeds from 1,400oz of saleable concentrates following a cleanout of the Central Gawler mill.

The mill is the only facility of its kind in the renowned central Gawler Craton.

In December 2022, Barton recovered more than 10 tonnes of gold-bearing material from cleanout activities, with assays from two parcels of material returning grades of up to 7,000 grams per tonne.

At current gold prices, the haul equates to approximately $4.6m.

Share register growth

Barton managing director Alex Scanlon said the raisings come at a time when the company’s share register has experienced rapid growth.

“This placement will further strengthen our share register composition as we progress into Tunkillia scoping studies and Tarcoola high-grade target drilling… it represents a further endorsement of Barton’s platform and strategy,” he said.

“Together with the ongoing sales tender for more than $4m contained gold-in-concentrates, we believe we are very well capitalised to advance several high-value initiatives and key project milestones during the coming year.”

Tunkillia upgrade

Earlier this month, Barton announced an upgrade in ore reserves to 1.5Moz at its flagship Tunkillia project.

The global resource now sits at around 51.3Mt of ore at 0.91g/t gold, boosted by 115,216oz identified at Area 51 (4.98Mt at 0.72g/t).

It was the third upgrade at the project within the past 12 months.