MetalsGrove Mining Limited (ASX:MGA) has secured firm commitments for an oversubscribed $2.7mn two-tranche placement to accelerate gold exploration activities in Côte d’Ivoire. The placement was priced at AUD0.06 per share and received support from sophisticated investors and existing shareholders, the company said.
The Board has committed approximately $0.52mn in Tranche 2, signalling internal confidence in the Central West Gold Project and the company’s broader strategy in one of West Africa’s most active gold-exploration regions.
Proceeds from the placement will be directed towards a series of early-stage and follow-up exploration programmes, including permit-wide geochemistry, aircore drilling and RC/diamond drilling across a landholding the company says now spans 1,315km² along the Abujar–Napié gold trend.
MetalsGrove has also expanded its position through a joint venture with Stellar AfricaGold’s Ivorian subsidiary, giving it access to the Zuénoula permit (PR-750). The company said the addition creates a contiguous 75km strike length that links the Kounahiri West and Vavoua permits across a Birimian greenstone belt with known artisanal activity.
The three Central West Gold JV permits, together with the Zuénoula permit, lie between the Napié deposit to the north and the Abujar Gold Mine to the south. MetalsGrove said the corridor hosts favourable geological structures that warrant systematic exploration.
An initial soil sampling programme is scheduled to begin this month on Zuénoula, with around 300 samples to be collected on a 1km × 1km grid. Samples will be analysed on-site using the PortablePPB detectORE method, which the company says can deliver indicative results within approximately 48 hours.
The company plans to follow these surveys with tighter-grid sampling and conventional fire-assay verification before moving to drill testing of defined anomalies. Early results from the programme are expected in early 2026, MetalsGrove said.
The expanded landholding and new capital raise provide capacity for a steady sequence of exploration milestones across multiple targets. MetalsGrove says the work programme is designed to build a pipeline of drill-ready prospects as activity intensifies across Côte d’Ivoire’s central gold belt.
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