Cobbetts advises diamond fundraising
The public markets team at Birmingham-based law firm Cobbetts has advised AIM-quoted mining and exploration company Stellar Diamonds on its £6.2m fundraising.
Stellar, based in London, works mainly in the diamond region of West Africa. The company has full rights over four high-grade kimberlite projects in Sierra Leone and Guinea that are at various stages of development. It also has two alluvial projects in Guinea.
The funding will be used to accelerate the development of Stellar’s kimberlite portfolio, as well as to fund its general working capital requirements.
Stellar said it intends to use about £2m for resource definition drilling and bulk sampling at its Droujba kimberlite pipe in Guinea.
Cobbetts corporate partners Charles Bond and Sefton Collett advised the deal.
Bond said: “The outlook for the diamond market is continuing to improve. The AIM market presents a genuine opportunity to raise capital for expansion at a time when bank funding is still in short supply.
“We expect to see a continued increase in AIM market activity throughout 2011 on the back of rising commodity prices and increasing investor confidence.”
