Kingsrose raises A$8m to fund Talang Santo gold project

By Ruli Setiawan

ASX-listed Kingsrose Mining announced Tuesday that it has raised A$8 million via a share placement to fund ongoing development of its Talang Santo gold mine in southern Sumatra.

The placement, to existing institutional and sophisticated investors, was completed at 35 cents a share, representing an 11.4 percent discount to both the last trading price and to the 10-day VWAP, the company said.

The proceeds will allow Kingsrose to continue mine development at Talang Santo while it awaits final approval from the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to transition to full production. In preparation for this, Kingsrose has now completed all outstanding obligations in relation to the permitting process and anticipates receiving the relevant approvals by April 2014.

The company said that some of the proceeds will also be used to:
? Accelerate evaluation of the recently proven near-mine splay vein orientation, which is not currently include in the mine plan, This will involve diamond drilling from underground platforms;
? Expedite the development and evaluation of additional production capacity from the Talang Semin (part of the Talang cluster) shaft, located 700 meters west of Talang Santo.

Kingsrose Managing Director Scott Huffadine said the strong demand for the placement reflected the outstanding potential of Talang Santo and the broader project.

?We undertook the placement because we wanted to ensure that the company is funded through to full production at Talang Santo,? he said. ?It also means we can continue our development work at the mine while we wait for the final approval. This will ensure we can ramp-up to full production as quickly as possible once the approval is granted.?

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak