Australian gold hunter Ardiden is raising up to AU$4.5 million ($4.25 million) to accelerate the pace of exploration at its properties in Pickle Lake.
In a July 15 news release, the Perth-based junior miner announced it has commitments from investors for $3.5 million and is raising an additional $1 million through a share transfer arrangement.
The company is starting its first phase of drilling, a 3,000-metre program over a six- to eight-week period on its lead target, Kasagiminnis.
The deposit has an historic resource of 790,000 tonnes, grading 4.3 grams per tonne, for 110,000 ounces of gold.
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“This is a significant milestone for Ardiden as it will now be able to properly explore its massive, continuous landholding at Pickle Lake,” managing director Rob Longley said in a statement.
“This funding will reshape our current summer drilling program at the Kasagiminnis Gold Deposit and expand options for drilling at Kasagiminnis and our other gold deposits and prospects at the Pickle Lake Gold Project."
The company has been accumulating land with multiple gold targets in and around Pickle Lake, a former gold mining camp and an area that's considered underexplored in northwestern Ontario.
It now has staked off 664 square kilometres of prospective ground, encircling the town of Pickle Lake and an area to the west, which includes the former Dona Lake and Golden Patricia mines.
Ardiden's properties are close to another Australian gold explorer, Auteco Minerals, which has defined an 830,000-ounce gold resource, at 11.6 grams per tonne, with its Pickle Crow Project, as part of an earn-in agreement with First Mining Gold.
