Prodigy Gold closes first tranche of private placement financing, raises $24.3m

Prodigy Gold (CVE:PDG) announced Friday it has closed the first tranche of its private placement to raise $24.3 million, including $4.3 million through the exercise of an over-allotment option with a syndicate of brokers.
As announced in May, Casimir Capital, National Bank Financial, Paradigm Capital, Byron Capital Markets and Macquarie Capital Markets agreed to place 28.17 million common shares at a price of $0.65 each, and 8 million flow-through shares for $0.75  each, for Prodigy, in exchange for $1.46 million.
The five brokers were also issued warrants, in addition to the cash consideration, exercisable to purchase 1.09 million common shares of Prodigy at $0.70 each within two years.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based company said it expects to close the second tranche of its financing shortly.
Prodigy, whose stock on the TSX Venture Exchange was up 1.61%, trading at $0.63 per share, said proceeds will fund its Magino gold mine project in Ontario, which is currently being evaluated as an open-pit mining opportunity with the potential for deeper, higher grade production.
The Magino project contains indicated gold resources of 1.924 million ounces and 587,100 ounces of inferred gold. A preliminary economic report on the property estimated a pre-tax net present value of $351 million, and a 49% internal rate of return, using a 5% discount rate.
The proposed operation would have an average annual gold output of over 166,666 ounces a year during a nine year project life, for total gold production of 1.50 million ounces at a cash cost of US$496 per ounce. A full feasibility study is expected early next year.