Turaco Gold has raised $23.4m aimed at accelerating drilling activities at its Afema project in Cote d’Ivoire.

With the capital raised, Turaco intends to expedite drilling and exploration activities, including geophysics, at the Afema project.

The company also plans to advance ongoing metallurgical test work.

In addition to the Afema project, Turaco Gold will allocate funds to invest in infrastructure that will benefit the local community and support the future development of the project.

The company also plans to allocate part of the proceeds towards general exploration expenditure across its other projects, including the Eburnea Project, as well as covering corporate and working capital costs.

Turaco Gold managing director Justin Tremain said: “This $35m raising provides a strong platform to accelerate drilling and continue to unlock further value at the Afema Project in West Africa’s premier jurisdiction of Cote d’Ivoire, where Turaco delineated a maiden JORC resource of 2.5Moz within 6 months of acquiring its interest.

“With the end of wet season, we will now accelerate drilling activity to target resource extensions and new discoveries through the testing of several large-scale exploration targets.

“We have two rigs operating on site now and will look to increase this following completion of this raising. Once again, we received overwhelming support from our shareholders, for which we thank them, and welcome several leading institutional investors as new shareholders.”

The Afema project is on a granted mining permit supported by a Mining Convention between Afema Gold and the State of Côte d’Ivoire.

The granted mining permit valid until December 2033. It covers an area of 227km² with a 20-year renewal option thereafter.

Turaco recently secured three contiguous exploration permits covering a combined area of 812km², providing a total granted Afema Project area of 1,040km².