Hillgrove has placed a total of 15 million shares at 20c each with half to be placed next week and the balance after a shareholder approval in April.

This takes the company’s cash position to $7.4 million.

Earlier this week, Hillgrove flagged the garnet potential at Kanmantoo. The company said a deposit at the project could support production of about 100,000-200,000 tonnes per annum as a by-product to the copper-gold production.

Hillgrove is about to start a bankable feasibility study on the copper-gold side of the project, with expectations that it could produce between 15,000-30,000tpa copper.

Meanwhile, at the Gunnedah Basin project, Hillgrove is earning a 32.5% interest, and four production test wells have recently been completed.

Shares in Hillgrove were unchanged at 21c at midday.