Contango ORE, Inc. (“Company”) (OTCBB: CTGO) announced today that it has
completed the issuance and sale of an aggregate of 1,230,999 units
(“Units”) at a price of $12.00 per Unit with each Unit consisting of
(i) one share of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share
(the “Common Stock”) and (ii) a five-year warrant to purchase one (1)
share of Common Stock at $10.00 per share (the “Warrant”), in a private
placement to certain investors (the “Investors”) pursuant to a
Subscription Agreement between the Company and each Investor. The
Company will use the approximately $14.2 million in net proceeds of the
private placement to fund its 2013 exploration program in Alaska.
Assuming success on our initial drill holes on new prospects, we
anticipate spending approximately $13 million on exploration expenses
and general corporate purposes. The Company will spend approximately $5
million in the first phase of drilling, review the results of the early
drilling, and will allocate the remaining capital towards the prospects
that offer the best potential for hosting commercial quantities of gold
and/or copper resources. The Units sold were not registered under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, but the Common Stock issued in the
offering and the shares of Common Stock issued upon exercise of the
Warrants are subject to a Registration Rights Agreement allowing the
shares to be registered by the holders at a future date. Petrie Partners
Securities, LLC acted as sole placement agent in connection with the
transaction.
Brad Juneau, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said,
“Our 2013 exploration season is about to begin and this capital raise
fully funds our planned program for 2013. We will have two or three
exploration rigs drilling approximately 60-85 core holes on our Tetlin
Lease this summer as well as completing additional airborne geophysics,
reconnaissance exploration and environmental studies. For a more
complete description of our planned program, visit our website at www.contangoore.com.
Both our Chairman, Kenneth R. Peak, and I have each personally invested
$1.0 million in this offering and are obviously enthused about our
potential for success.”
Contango ORE, Inc. (CORE) is a Houston-based company that engages in the
exploration in Alaska for gold and associated minerals and rare earth
elements. Additional information can be found on our web page at www.contangoore.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CORE
that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor "forward-looking
statements" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, based on CORE’s current expectations and includes statements
regarding future results of operations, quality and nature of the asset
base, the assumptions upon which estimates are based and other
expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, strategies or
statements about future events or performance (often, but not always,
using words such as "expects", “projects”, "anticipates", "plans",
"estimates", "potential", "possible", "probable", or "intends", or
stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "should",
or "could" be taken, occur or be achieved). Forward-looking statements
are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that
involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those, reflected in the statements.
These risks include, but are not limited to: the risks of the
exploration and the mining industry (for example, operational risks in
exploring for, developing mineral reserves; risks and uncertainties
involving geology; the speculative nature of the mining industry; the
uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to future production,
costs and expenses; the volatility of natural resources prices,
including prices of gold and rare earth elements; the existence and
extent of commercially exploitable minerals in properties acquired by
CORE; potential delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration
or development projects or capital expenditures; the interpretation of
exploration results and the estimation of mineral resources; the loss of
key employees or consultants; health, safety and environmental risks and
risks related to weather and other natural disasters); uncertainties as
to the availability and cost of financing; inability to realize expected
value from acquisitions; inability of our management team to execute its
plans to meet its goals; and the possibility that government policies
may change or governmental approvals may be delayed or withheld,
including the inability to obtain any mining permits. Additional
information on these and other factors which could affect CORE’s
exploration program or financial results are included in CORE’s other
reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors
are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of
future performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from the projections in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of
management at the time the statements are made. CORE does not assume any
obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or
management's estimates or opinions change.
