ARU raising $30M at 16c / share, a 20% discount to the last traded price of 20c.

Looking for $20M via a placement and $10M from the SPP.

Could be a good opportunity for @Parko5 to build a bigger position

I note in the 5B that ARU's SPP was expanded and scaled back significantly.

Originally looking to raise $12M, they expanded it to $20M and even then "scaled back to 26% of the application amount".

Normally you'd expect a cap raise to depress the price but both the placement and the SPP had significant scale-back. (Placement was about 30% of bid.) Note, that there are still $25M for tranche II of the placement pending. Should settle in the next week. That gives a total raise of $141M - about 10% of the capex required.

The scale-back explains the high on-market demand. I think that taking a little extra in the SPP was prudent - these projects tend to go over budget. Hopefully this is enough equity to allow finance funding that will get Nolans to cash flow positive.

Pre-production capex estimated at $A 1,394M ($1.5B with contingency). So an extra $8M is not material.

"Advancement and negotiation of the finance facilities are targeted to allow for FID in March 2023 with contractual close on project financing to follow in mid-2023"

Base case NPV of $2.4B, upside of $4.2B (with higher NdPr price).

Got to love that Nolans is "one of the only advanced NdPr ore to oxide projects of scale in the western world."

ARU are on their way to production with a heavily oversubscribed placement raising $121M and pending SPP for another $12M all at 37c. This is a discount to the pre ann price of ~44c - full details here: A$121 Million institutional placement and launch of SPP (asx.com.au). I heard reports of heavy scale back of placement bids - only getting 30% so it may have been 3x oversubscribed.

Usually, this kind of cap raise will cause the price to fall to the issue price, but ARU opened at 40.5c and I expect the SPP to be scaled back. Ask for $30k and see what you actually get.

"Nolans Project is the only advanced stage NdPr focused project outside China that plans to mine and process ore to oxide at a single site."

Is this enough cash for the project? I don't know, but it's a good chunk and should let them raise some debt. ARU could be the next Lynas and now is the time to get on board.

Check out the investor presentation here: 202212045 Investor Presentation (asx.com.au)