Solomon Gold is tapping investors for £15.1 million for further exploration at Fauro in the Solomon Islands.

South Pacific-focused Solomon Gold is tapping investors for £15.1 million for further exploration at Fauro in the Solomon Islands.

The Brisbane-based company has priced the placing at 28p in the wake of sampling showing some high-grade intersections within the Fauro project, including up to 173 grammes of gold per tonne of ore at the Meriguna prospect and 139 gammes a tonne at Hornbill.

Chief executive Nick Mather, who has put £308,000 into the placing, taking his stake to 13.45 per cent, says shareholders representing 56 per cent have undertaken to vote for the funding. Most of the money will go to Fauro, where Mather has suggested the mineralisation resembles Papua New Guinea’s major Lihir Island gold deposit, but Solomon will also spend some of the proceeds on drilling and ‘a significant resource upgrade’ at its Rannes and Mt. Perry projects in Queensland.