Chrysos Corporation prepares $75m equity raising, hires two brokers
Chrysos Corporation, a gold sample testing company making inroads with technology that is disrupting the industry, is preparing to raise equity and has hired Barrenjoey Capital Partners and Shaw and Partners to oversee the mooted cash call.
Sources said the Dirk Treasure-led company, whose shares have risen almost 150 per cent year-to-date, would look to raise about $75 million. The brokers are expected to launch the transaction as early as Monday.
Chrysos Corporation CEO Dirk Treasure with one of the big gold sample testing machines. AFR
It is understood Barrenjoey and Shaws told investors over the weekend that deal proceeds would fund recently announced contract wins. Only last week the company said it had inked a partnership with Barrick Gold and international laboratory business MSALABS, to deliver its PhotonAssay technology to Barrick mine sites across four continents.
The Chrysos photon assay process stemmed from a discovery made by CSIRO physics researchers. The process uses high-powered X-rays to bombard rock samples and activate atoms of gold and other metals. A detector can determine their concentrations in minutes. The large testing units are about the size of three shipping containers positioned side-by-side.
Large samples of up to 500 grams can be assessed using the Chrysos technology, without being destroyed as they are in the traditional fire assay process, which involves sending samples to a laboratory and heating to 1200 degrees to discover how much gold the samples contain.
Barrenjoey oversaw Chrysos’ initial public offering on the local bourse in May last year, issuing shares at $6.50 apiece. The shares fell to trade around the $3 mark in the months following the listing but have since recovered,
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