Auteco raises $5m for exploration

Auteco Minerals is set to proceed with further exploration of its recently acquired Pickle Crow gold deposit in Canada’s Ontario province after the company gained financial backing from international and Australian institutional investors.

Having confirmed $5.1 million in funding commitments, executive chairman Ray Shorrocks said today that Auteco would begin its maiden drilling program, focused on high-grade gold targets.

The company would complete the placement in two tranches, with the first to be issued on or around May 6, and the second to follow sometime during June. Subject to shareholder approval, sought through a June extraordinary general meeting, 145,714,286 new shares in total will be placed at 3.5 cents per share. 

In the 1930s, Ontario’s Pickle Crow deposit once held a reasonably prosperous mine, producing gold until 1966.

Depending on the size and quality of the gold deposit, the area's favourable infrastructural and logistical attributes bode well for overall financial viability, according to Auteco.