Western Copper upsizes bought deal financing to $80 million
Western Copper & Gold Corp.’s [WRN-TSX, NYSE American] has announced details of an upsized $80 million bought deal financing, with proceeds earmarked to advance permitting and engineering activity at the company’s Casino project in the Canadian Yukon. The amount being raised is up from an earlier $50 million target.
The company said an underwriting syndicate has agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 19.3 million common shares priced at $4.15 per share.
The underwriters have been granted an option to purchase up to an additional 2.9 million common shares of the offering, potentially adding an additional $12 million to the gross proceeds, which would add up to $92 million. That option can be exercised, in whole or in part, at any time and including 30 days after the offering closes, likely on February 26, 2026.
On Thursday, the shares eased 3.62% or 16 cents to $4.25. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $5.74 and $1.28.
Western Copper is working to develop its 100%-owned Casino copper-gold-molybdenum deposit.
The Casino project ranks as one of the largest copper-gold projects in Canada. It is estimated to host measured and indicated resources 14.5 million ounces of gold and 7.6 billion pounds of copper. On top of that is an inferred resource of 6.6 million ounces of gold and 3.3 billion pounds of copper.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) which was announced in June, 2021, envisages a large open pit operation, a concentrator to recover copper, gold, silver and molybdenum, and a solid waste facility to store mine waste rock and mill tailings.
The project will also feature a heap leach facility to recover gold, silver, and copper from oxide ore as well as 130 kilometres of access road and an on-site power generation facility.
The company has highlighted the recent announcement by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) conditionally approving $40 million in federal funding to undertake pre-feasibility activities to advance a high-voltage transmission line network connecting the Yukon electrical grid to the North American grid in British Columbia.
This funding would be provided through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF). The government announcement stresses the importance of investments in critical minerals infrastructure to enable Canada to seize the generational opportunity to transition to a low-carbon economy and capitalize on the country’s rich mineral resources.
“This is a meaningful step toward advancing much-needed energy infrastructure in the Yukon, with potential to support Canada’s broader focus on improving the environmental performance and sustainability of critical mineral development,’’ said Western Copper CEO Sandeep Singh.
Source: Resource World Magazine – Read More