The company is seeking to raise $4 million through the placement of 26.7 million new shares at $0.15 each, and a further $1.5 million through a share purchase plan.

The purchase plan will allow eligible shareholders to apply for up to $30,000 worth of shares at the same price as the placement, and will be capped at 10 million shares.

Petra Capital will act as sole lead manager and bookrunner to the placement.

Stavely is also in the process of securing $2.5 million of secured debt from sophisticated investors which will be used to complete the acquisition of land adjacent to the Thursday’s Gossan project.

Stavely executive chairman and managing director Chris Cairns said he was pleased with the early support received from new and existing investors.

“The funds raised from the placement and purchase plan will enable us to continue to invest a significant proportion of funds in the ground which, in the March quarter, was 87% of our total expenditure,” he said.

“While Stavely’s share price has been impacted by recent market conditions, a relatively modest capital raising has minimised the dilutive impact of the raise [and] our purchase plan extends an opportunity to all shareholders to participate at these prices.”

Stavely holds rights over what is believed to be the largest and most strategic tenement holding in Victoria’s Stavely volcanic belt.

The company has been focused on making “transformational” mineral discoveries since its $6 million initial public offering and ASX listing in 2014.

Its “standout” discovery is the shallow, high-grade copper-gold-silver Cayley Lode which hosts a maiden mineral resource estimate of 9.3 million tonnes grading 1.23% copper, 0.23 grams per tonne gold and 7.1g/t silver.

Stavely’s global resources total 28.3Mt at 0.75% copper, 0.11g/t gold and 3.5g/t silver for 210,000t copper, 100,000 ounces gold, 3.2 million ounces silver and 2,400t zinc.