The Clean TeQ Holdings Limited (ASX: CLQ) share price is down 10.3% today. This as the company emerges from a 2-day trading halt to announce a $19 million capital raising via a private share placement.
Although well down from its 8 September 2020 highs of 38 cents per share, at today's 26 cents, the Clean TeQ share price remains up 18.2% year-to-date.
By comparison, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up 1.3% so far in 2020.
What does Clean TeQ do?
Based in Melbourne, Clean TeQ Holdings provides services in metals recovery and industrial water treatment. The company applies its proprietary continuous ion exchange technology via its wholly owned subsidiary, Clean TeQ Water.
Clean TeQ also owns 100% of the Clean TeQ Sunrise Project in New South Wales. The company counts this amongst the largest cobalt deposits outside of Africa. It also has some of the largest and highest-grade accumulations of scandium on the planet.
Why did the Clean TeQ share price plummet today?
Co-chair Robert Friedland and CEO Sam Riggall told the ASX today that a private placement at 25 cents per share had been subscribed for institutional and sophisticated investors out of Australia, Asia, Israel and North America.
The share placement, which will raise $19 million in capital, comes at a 13.8% discount to Clean TeQ's 29 cent share price at market close on Friday. Clean TeQ was in a trading halt this week on Monday and Tuesday and expects settlement to occur this Friday, 27 November.
Management also announced that eligible shareholders would be able to apply for up to $30,000 worth of shares at the 25-cent placement price. Clean TeQ's roughly 7,000 shareholders will be able to do so without paying any brokerage or other transaction costs.
Among other allocations, the new capital will be used to fund ongoing development and growth of the company's water purification business.
The capital will also fund additional mineral exploration at the company's tenements. These include the Phoenix Platinum Zone beneath the Sunrise laterite and the Minore Project in New South Wales. Clean TeQ is progressing a six-hole diamond core drill program targeting platinum group metals.
