Shares in AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) are frozen as the company prepares to announce news of an equity raising. The AVZ Minerals share price ended yesterday's trade at 16 cents, where it remains.
The mineral exploration company is keeping its cards close to its chest today. However, it's told the ASX its equity raising will be in the form of an institutional placement and a share purchase plan.
Let's take a closer look at today's news from the company.
AVZ Minerals shares freeze over
AVZ Minerals is planning to keep its shares frozen until 2 July, unless it announces news of its placement to the market earlier.
While the company didn't specify how it will use the capital it plans to raise, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) has reported most of the funds will go towards increasing its share of the Manono Project in Africa to 75%.
The capital raise will reportedly see the company with an extra $35 million to play with.
$30 million worth of new shares are said to have been offered to institutional and sophisticated investors, while $5 million of new shares were presented to existing shareholders.
The placement reportedly involved new shares on offer for 13 cents apiece.
Today's trading halt is the third the company has undergone in 2021.
About the company
AVZ Minerals is a Perth-based exploration company.
Its focus is on mining lithium, tin and tantalum in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The company is currently developing the Manono Project. It believes the project could be one of the largest lithium, caesium and tantalum deposits in the world. AVZ Minerals holds a 60% interest in the project.
AVZ Minerals share price snapshot
So far, 2021 hasn't been a good year for the AVZ Minerals share price.
Currently, it's 5.8% lower than it was at the start of the year. However, it's gained a whopping 220% since this time last year.
The company has a market capitalisation of around $462 million, with approximately 2.9 billion shares outstanding.
