Adriatic confirmed it has signed a term sheet with Orion Resource Partners for a US$ 142.5 million debt

The equity raise will be priced at A$2.80 per share, representing a discount of about 10 per cent to the 10-day weighted average price on the ASX.

Orion is a global alternative investment management firm offering customising financial solutions and specialising in base and precious metals.

Adriatic has been granted an all-important mining permit for Rupice, the underground deposit which underpins the Vares project, putting it on course to begin the main construction stage at Vares later this year.

Adriatic aims to deliver the Vares DFS soon. It previously said an “exceptional” pre-feasibility study unveiled in 2020 pointed to an average EBITDA of US$251 million per annum for the first five years of forecast metal concentrate production, and an initial 14-year mine life.

Concurrent with the DFS, Adriatic says it intends cranking up exploration across its large mineral concession package, including a drilling program at Rupice.

Latest stated probable ore reserves for Vares’ Rupice underground and Veovaca open-pit deposits stand at 11.12 million tonnes at average grades of 149.6 grams per tonne silver, 1.28 g/t gold, 4.22 per cent zinc, 2.67 per cent lead and 0.43 per cent copper.

Adriatic, the only publicly listed development-stage mining company in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is also keen to advance the Raska zinc-silver project in neighbouring Serbia which it acquired last year with the takeover of Tethyan Resource Corp.