Arizona Lithium (ASX: AZL) said on Monday it had raised A$16.5 million ($11m) in flow-through funding as it prepares to release results of a prefeasibility study for its Prairie lithium project in Canada.
The pricing of the raising represents a 30% premium to the company’s closing price Friday and hints at market confidence in the results of the study, expected before the end of the year. The company says early results from Prairie have indicated an “economically robust project.”
Shares of Arizona Lithium soared as much as 18% to A$0.046 on the news, hitting a three-week high. The stock closed at A$0.045 on Monday, which leaves the explorer and developer with a market capitalization of A$146.74 million ($99m).
The West Perth-based company said it would use the funds drilling at Prairie as it moves towards production in the first quarter of 2025.
It also highlighted a $663,000 investment by Navajo Transitional Energy Co, with which it has a strategic alliance to develop the company’s other lithium project, Big Sandy in Arizona.
The Prairie project, located in the Williston Basin of Saskatchewan, utilizes conventional oil and gas drilling and completion methods to access lithium-rich brine from aquifers about 2.3 km underground.
Earlier this month, Arizona slightly increased resources at the Prairie project to 6.3 million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). The total is comprised of 4.5 million tonnes LCE indicated and 1.8 million tonnes LCE inferred.
