Ironveld raises £0.4m as it expands operations at Bushveld

Ironveld, the owner of a high-purity iron, vanadium and titanium project on the northern limb of the Bushveld complex in Limpopo Province, South Africa, announced on Monday that it has raised £0.4m before expenses through a placing of 24,242,420 new ordinary shares at a price of 1.65p each.

The AIM-traded firm said the proceeds of the placing would be used to fund the purchase of a secondary gyratory crusher and magnetic separation equipment, which would be used to process its magnetite ore in order to meet offtake specifications set by a potential off-take partner for commercial scale testing, as well as for general working capital purposes.

It said the required ore had been mined, and 1,000 tons had already been shipped to the potential off-take partner.

The equipment to be acquired would allow for a “significant increase” in the shipment rate.

Ironveld said it was being paid for the commercial sample, and remained hopeful that successful testing could result in a long-term offtake agreement.

“I am delighted that we have been successful in raising these funds to enable the purchase of equipment that will also us to meet the specifications of the ore that we are able to supply,” said Ironveld chief executive officer Peter Cox.

“We are hopeful that the successful delivery of the ore we are supplying through the sampling programme with our potential off-take partner will lead to a longer term agreement, ultimately generating significant revenue for the company.”

Cox said the company’s project had a “vast resource” containing 27 million tons of high-purity iron and 1.4 billion pounds of vanadium in situ.

“As vanadium prices reach historical highs, we are confident that we can capitalise on the growing demand and move towards monetisation of our asset.”