Navigator slumps on discounted rights issue

gold mine project plan

Shares in gold miner Navigator Resources plunged by nearly 50 per cent after the company announced a deeply discounted $31.7 million rights issue, admitted underperformance at its Bronzewing gold project and flagged a change of mine plan.

Navigator, which has been in week-long suspension, said the capital raising would allow it to resume trading de-geared, unhedged and fully funded as it went about changing its mine plan for Bronzewing to focus on sustainable long term supply of high grade ore from its Cockburn Pit in the shortest possible timeframe. The company had hoped to secure $4.5 million in cash from the sale of a further 30 per cent stake in its Cummins Range rare earths project to Kimberley Rare Earths but the deal was blocked by the ASX because it breached listing rules. Bronzewing has been dogged by production problems since Navigator began mining in April last year, including a partial pitwall failure in September last year. More recently, an ore supply shortfall has prevented the mill from operating at full capacity, causing the company to miss production targets...