GeoPark settles £12.22 million; Ireland Inc. issues $6.25 million; Baffinland plans placement

By Devika Patel

Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 19 - GeoPark Holdings Ltd. took in £12.22 million in a shares sale, which will be used to finance the company's growth plans.

Ireland, Inc. raised $6.25 million in a private placement of units, which the company needed to finance the next phase of its technical program.

Mineral explorer PolyMet Mining Corp. arranged two $25 million registered direct offerings of stock.

Also, in Canadian PIPE news, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. announced a C$20.02 million private placement of units. The company's shares (Toronto: BIM) rose 7.37%, or 4 cents, closing at C$0.51 on Thursday.

Fire River Gold Corp. said it has arranged a C$10 million units placement. Fire River's stock (CNQ: FAU) fell 7.14% after the announcement, or 4 cents, closing at C$0.52 Thursday.

GeoPark gets £12.22 million

Hamilton, Bermuda-based oil and gas company GeoPark said it raised £12.22 million by selling 3,784,000 ordinary shares at 323p each. Investors included Cartica Management LLC and International Finance Corp.

"We are pleased with the encouraging level of new demand generated by the placing and the continuing confidence in the company exhibited by the international investment community," company chairman Gerald E. O'Shaughnessy said in a press release.

"Notable in the placement is the participation by Cartica Management, a new strategic long term investor who we believe will provide additional benefits to our company's growth. We also appreciate the continuing support received from the IFC, UK institutional investors and the Chilean financial community - where GeoPark recently established a listing on the Santiago Off-Shore Exchange."

Proceeds will be used to accelerate GeoPark's growth plans, including exploration and development and acquisitions.

The company's shares (London: GPK) rose 3.23%, or 10p, closing at 320p Thursday.

Ireland sells $6.25 million

Ireland said it sold 13,889,355 units at $0.45 apiece to raise $6.25 million Thursday. The units consist of one common share and one half-share warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable at $0.75 per share until June 30, 2013.

The Blaine, Wash., mineral exploration company said it plans to use the proceeds to complete the 2009 drill program, for operations of the onsite pilot plant and operations at the pilot facility into the third quarter of 2010.

"Now that we have successfully completed this financing and raised the necessary funds to complete the next phase of our technical program, we are preparing to commence the minor modifications necessary to implement our precious metal extraction processing circuit so that we can resume pilot plant operations in the first quarter of 2010," chief executive officer Douglas D. G. Birnie stated.

"Our goal is to utilize the onsite pilot plant to complete our prefeasibility study, which is designed to prove the ability of our process to cost-effectively extract precious metals from materials dredge-mined from the Columbus Project in Nevada."

Company shares (OTCBB: IRLD) rose 2.13% Thursday, or 1 cent, closing at $0.48.

Polymet plans $10 million

Vancouver, B.C.-based PolyMet is offering 3,773,585 common shares at $2.65 apiece in a bid to raise $10 million through a registered direct offering. The company also is selling 5,660,377 shares at that price to Glencore AG for $15 million. The offering will be made under the company's $500 million shelf registration, which was filed in August.

Company shares (Amex: PLM) rose 2.77% on Thursday, or 7 cents closing at $2.60.

The company is raising funds for its copper, nickel, precious metals development project in Minnesota and general corporate purposes. It expects to raise about $9.85 million in net proceeds.

Baffinland prices C$20.02 million

Baffinland priced a C$20.02 million private placement of units in which it will sell 36.4 million units of one flow-through common share and one half-share warrant at C$0.55 apiece on a bought-deal basis on Dec. 10. Each whole warrant is exercisable at C$0.70 for three years.

Proceeds will be used to increase and upgrade mineral resources on the Mary River property, advance development activities on Deposit No. 1 and for general corporate purposes.

"Baffinland's Mary River lump iron ore is now proven to be an exceptional blast furnace burden feed," executive vice president Michael Zurowski said in an Oct. 14 press release.

"Mary River lump iron ore has outstanding chemical, physical and metallurgical characteristics that will make it a premier sales product. The trial cargos have confirmed that once commercial product is achieved, Mary River iron ore will be a sought-after blast furnace feed for a great many years."

Based in Toronto, Baffinland is a mineral exploration and development company. The underwriting syndicate, comprising GMP Securities LP, CIBC World Markets Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Jennings Capital Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and Raymond James Ltd., has a 15% greenshoe.

Fire River aims for C$10 million

Vancouver, B.C.-based Fire River Gold said it has orchestrated a C$10 million best-efforts private placement of units of one common share and a half-share warrant. Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd. is the agent.

The gold explorer is selling 20 million units at C$0.50 apiece. Each whole warrant is exercisable at C$0.75 for 18 months. There is a 20% greenshoe.

Proceeds will be used for exploration and development of the Nixon Fork Gold Mine in Alaska and for general corporate purposes.

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