Avalon closes public offering, raises $44 million

Avalon Rare Metals (TSE:AVL) reported on Wednesday it has closed its previously announced public offering, raising $44 million.
Toronto-based Avalon Rare Metals sold 7.69 million shares for US$6.15 per share, or C$5.81 per share, which includes 592,000 shares issued pursuant to the partial exercise of the underwriters’ option to buy an extra one million shares at the offering price to cover over-allotments.
The initial offering, which Avalon announced on July 26, was set at seven million shares. The offer was increased to 7.1 million shares on July 27, set at a price of US$6.15 per share, or C$5.81 per share.
The company, whose peers include Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP), said it intends to use profits to complete a bankable feasibility study on the Thor Lake Rare Metals Project, working capital and general corporate purposes.
Avalon Rare Metals is a mineral explorer and developer focused on rare metals deposits in Canada. Its flagship project, the 100%-owned Nechalacho Deposit, Thor Lake, in the Northwest Territories, is emerging as one of the largest undeveloped rare earth elements resources in the world.