Nickel explorer and market darling Sirius Resources is a step closer to funding a $470 million West Australian project.
Sirius has raised $189 million through a placement of new shares to institutional investors, which it said was heavily over-subscribed.
It takes the company's cash balance to $246 million, and managing director Mark Bennett said the company was confident of obtaining debt financing to cover the remainder of the cost of the Nova project, near Fraser Range in WA's south.
"Our discussions with debt providers are progressing well, providing Sirius with the confidence that proceeds from the placement combined with debt finance will comfortably fund the development and construction of the Nova nickel project, and also underpin a continuing aggressive exploration program throughout this period," he said.
Sirius shares rose from five cents to $5 during the 2012/13 financial year, on the strength of the discovery of Nova and a second nearby deposit called Bollinger.
The share price then fell back to around $1.95 but has almost doubled since the start of 2014, helped along by the discovery of another deposit.
The company's success has prompted a rush of mining explorers to Fraser Range in search of similar deposits.
Sirius shares dropped 19 cents to $3.89.
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