Australian Vanadium fields strong placement demand with $5 million raised to advance projects

Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has received strong demand for a placement which has raised $5 million with funds to be used to advance the company's vertically integrated battery metals strategy, including a bankable feasibility study at its namesake vanadium project. Firm commitments have been fielded from existing shareholders and new investors for the placement of more than 357 million ordinary fully paid shares at a price of 1.4 cents each. The placement represents about 14% of the company’s existing shares while the offer price represents a 10.02% discount to the 15-day VWAP of 1.56 cents and a 17.65% discount to the last closing price of 1.7 cents. AVL managing director Vincent Algar said he was delighted with the response to the placement and that the funds raised put the company in a strong financial position moving forward. Funding project development The Australian Vanadium Project is AVL’s primary focus, with funds to be applied towards the delivery of the bankable feasibility study.  Funds will also be allocated to AVL’s battery focused subsidiary VSUN Energy to further develop vanadium redox flow battery sales in markets ranging from utility, commercial and mining to residential and the associated production of vanadium electrolyte including electrolyte leasing. This vertical integration strategy offers job growth within Western Australia and across the country.  There will also be an allocation for exploration work on AVL’s Coates collaboration project which has nickel-PGE potential and is near Chalice Gold Mines’ (ASX:CHN) Julimar discovery. Further to this discovery, AVL has revealed the potential for nickel and platinum group elements (PGE) at Coates which is a collaboration with Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) and Mercator Metals Pty Ltd.  Funds will be used to undertake confirmatory soil sampling, airborne electromagnetics drill targeting and drilling. 180 Markets The shares were placed to institutional and sophisticated investors that qualify under section 708 of the Corporations Act with the capital raising managed by 180 Markets, a relatively new capital-raising platform where investors can register and bid into raisings. Australian Vanadium said this had been an effective way to raise funds with 180 Markets "doing a really good job, very quick and efficient". For further information visit: https://180markets.com.au/. 180 Markets will be paid a 6% fee on all funds introduced and will receive 7.5 million options. Placement details The issue of shares is not subject to shareholder approval as the issuance will comprise 254,142,857 shares under the company’s ASX Listing Rule 7.1 issue capacity and 103 million shares under the company’s ASX Listing Rule 7.1A issue capacity. Subject to shareholder approval at the upcoming general meeting, for every two shares issued under the placement, one free attaching option will also be issued. Each option will have an exercise price of 2.5 cents, expiring two years from the date of issue. Subject to meeting ASX requirements, the company intends to seek quotation of the options.