Australian lithium miner Galaxy Resources on Wednesday said it will raise about A$161 million ($118.43 million) in a share placement to fund the development of its lithium projects in Argentina and Canada.
Capital raised will be used to fund development of Sal de Vida lithium brine project in Argentina, with front-end engineering & design for stage 1 expected to be completed by first quarter next year and first production expected in late 2022.
The funds will also be used for pre-development activities at James Bay lithium pegmatite project in Canada to get the project construction-ready, it said in a statement.
"With EV (electric vehicles) demand continuing to rise in Europe and North America, we will also accelerate James Bay to a construction ready status as these regions seek to localise raw materials supply and/or build-out lithium chemicals capacity," Chief Executive Simon Hay said.
Demand for lithium and other battery materials has soared globally as the world looks to increasingly use electric vehicles, especially as calls for aggressive climate change policies rise in the western countries.
Galaxy will place about 65 million shares to raise A$111 million, with another A$50 million to be raised via a 1-for-14 pro-rata entitlement offer of about 29 million shares, it said.
The new shares will be issued at A$1.70 per share, a 15% discount to its last close.
($1 = 1.3594 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)
