BlackEarth Minerals raises $1.42 million in oversubscribed placement

BlackEarth Minerals NL (ASX:BEM) has secured strong commitments from investors to raise about $1.42 million via a share placement which was oversubscribed by 50%. The company plans to use the new funds on exploration activities at the Maniry and Donnelly River projects in Madagascar and to complete pilot work to formalise offtake arrangement discussions. “Renewed and growing interest” BlackEarth managing director Tom Revy said: “The Board of BEM is excited about a number of developing opportunities for the company and these funds will be utilised specifically for purpose of advancing the development and growing the value of our existing assets. “We’re pleased with the renewed and growing interest in the graphite sector and we believe our Donnelly River assets also offer a unique opportunity to shareholders. “Technical and other resources will be applied to assessing these assets in the immediate term. “Additional production and testing of concentrate for the purposes of undertaking detailed downstream battery, refractory and expandable product test-work which will be used for definitive offtake discussions. “We look forward to updating the market with further developments in the near future.” Placement details As per the terms of the placement, BlackEarth will issue 28.41 million shares at an issue price of 5 cents per share. The placement is not subject to shareholder approval and the new shares will rank equally with the company’s existing fully paid ordinary shares. BlackEarth is expected to issue the placement shares on October 8, 2020.