Filo private placement for Argentine copper-gold project balloons to $130M

At the beginning of June, Filo Mining (TSX: FIL; NASDAQ: FIL) announced a $100-million non-brokered private placement in support of exploration and development at its Filo del Sol copper-gold project in the San Juan region of Argentina. Now two weeks later, the offering has closed, bringing in a total of $130 million.

Filo, part of the Lundin Group of companies, sold a total of nearly 6.2 million common shares at a price of $21.10 each. It now has 130.1 million shares outstanding. 

Filo president and CEO Jamie Beck noted that the private placement allowed the company to raise funds at-market, with limited dilution.

“In addition to the support of the Lundin Family and BHP, the private placement was well supported by institutional investors, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock,” he said in a release. “This sets Filo up well for the next phase of drilling as we grow and define this remarkable deposit.”

In February 2023, the company released a prefeasibility study for Filo del Sol. Considering only the oxide resources, the study estimated the project’s after-tax net present value (8% discount) at US$1.3 billion and its internal rate of return at 20%. Developing the mine and mill to production will take an investment of US$1.8 billion, and payback will occur 3.4 years after production begins.

Annual output is forecast at 145.5 million lb. of copper, 168,000 oz. of gold, and 9.3 million oz. of silver.

The oxide resource totals 362.2 million indicated tonnes grading 0.34% copper, 0.33 gram gold per tonne, and 13.3 grams silver, for 2.7 billion lb. of copper, 3.8 million oz. of gold, and 154.7 million oz. of silver. There are also 132.7 million inferred tonnes grading 0.25% copper, 0.3 gram gold, and 9.9 gram silver.

The sulphide indicated resource totals 70.4 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper, 0.35 gram gold, and 2.5 gram silver, for 473 million lb. of copper, 790,000 oz. of gold, and 8 million oz. of silver. Inferred sulphide resources add 78.9 million tonnes at 0.31% copper, 0.35 gram gold, and 3.1 gram silver.