Xtract Resources has raised about $2.9m to help develop its antimony projects in Morocco and prepare Amghas for production later this year. The London-listed mining company owns 80% of Moroccan firm Wildstone. Most of the new funds will go towards work at the Amghas and Ighoud projects.
The company issued 210 million new shares at 1p each. Investors bought 177 million shares for about $2.4m, while direct subscriptions raised another $449,000 from 33 million shares.
The new shares represent 17.65% of Xtract’s existing share capital. They are expected to start trading on the AIM market around 3 September.
Xtract will then have about 1.4 billion shares with voting rights.
Executive chairman Colin Bird will buy 2.5 million shares for about $34,000. His stake will rise to 1.77% of the enlarged company.
Work at Amghas
Xtract has set an indicative budget of $1.275m for Wildstone’s work in Morocco.
The money will fund drilling at Amghas, working capital for the first sales, metallurgical tests and civil works for a gravity processing plant.
The company also plans to complete the work needed to secure approval for flotation processing. Further exploration will focus on mineralisation deeper underground.
Xtract plans to start production at the gravity plant in the fourth quarter of 2026. It plans to expand the project’s resources in the first quarter of 2027 and build a second plant using flotation by the fourth quarter of 2027.
Wildstone has not yet published a mineral resource estimate that meets recognised AIM standards. Xtract has warned shareholders not to rely on earlier estimates that did not follow those standards.
Amghas received a renewable 10-year mining licence in June.
Wildstone is preparing a gravity plant that can process 70,000 tonnes of ore a year. Equipment has started moving from Casablanca to the site.
Work at Amghas has focused on mine access, infrastructure, earthworks and building up stocks of ore. The project still needs environmental approval before ore can be processed on site.
Tests published on 13 August showed that Amghas could produce an antimony concentrate grading more than 55%. The tests also showed that lead could be separated into a different product that could potentially be sold.
The new funding is expected to support the planned start of production at “two new mines” in the fourth quarter.
Xtract also sees Amghas as a potential source of “a guaranteed supply” of antimony for industrial users.
