Terramin settles equity placement; Cortez Gold aims for C$7 million; GTC to sell shares to LBF

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Portland, Ore., Nov. 2 - Terramin Australia Ltd. completed a private placement of shares Monday, the company announced in a press release.

The company sold more than 19 million ordinary shares. Proceeds will be used for capital projects at its Angas Zinc Mine, among others, as well as for the repayment of debt.

Meanwhile, Cortez Gold Corp. said it would raise between C$5 million and C$7 million via a private placement of units. The funds will help the company make its final payment of various mineral claims in Nevada.

GTC Biotherapeutics Inc. will take in nearly $4 million from a private placement of shares. The shares were sold to a single investor that is also a strategic partner.

Also, Spot Coffee (Canada) Ltd. brought a C$3 million non-brokered deal to market. The company will sell units to raise the funds, which will be used for expansion.

Advanced Cell Technology Inc. will sell promissory notes in its effort to raise $2 million, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Terramin wraps equity placement

Terramin Australia settled a A$15.44 million private placement of ordinary shares, according to a press release.

The company issued 19.3 million of the shares at A$0.80 per share.

Funds raised in the transaction will be used for "enhancements to its operating Angas Zinc Mine and the development of its major zinc project in Algeria," the company said in the release. In addition, proceeds will also be used to partially pay down existing bank debt of A$28 million and to "progress potential acquisition opportunities that meet the company's investment criteria."

"Angas has exceeded output expectations and halved production costs this year," said Kevin Moriarty, executive chairman, in the statement. "As a large component of Angas' costs are fixed even a modest increase in production output will increase net operating cash flows.

"We want to bring forward development at Angas to ensure strong cash flows that will in turn be applied to the funding of the next stage of the Tala Hamza mine development, which is tracking on time and below current budgets," Moriarty added. "Some capital will be invested in the exploration of shallow high-grade copper and zinc targets on our exploration ground around Angas. These targets include old mines and prospects that have not been drill tested."

Terramin's equity (Australia: TZN) closed at A$0.845.

Terramin Australia is a Wayville, Australia-based mining company.

Cortez aims for C$7 million

Cortez Gold is seeking up to C$7 million from a private placement of common share units.

The company will sell up to 14 million of the units at C$0.50 per unit. Each unit will contain one common share and one half-share warrant. Whole warrants are exercisable at C$0.70 for two years.

Cortex will use $2.9 million of the proceeds to make its final payment for various mineral claims in Nevada, which are being purchased from Seabridge Gold Inc. Remaining funds will be used for working capital and for the first phase of Cortez's work program at its Castel Black-Rock property.

Calls seeking comment went unreturned Monday.

Cortez's shares (TSX Venture: CUT.P) gained 8.5 cents, or 22.67%, to C$0.46. Market capitalization is C$1.86 million.

Cortez Gold is a Vancouver, B.C.-based capital pool company.

GTC to sell shares to LFB

GTC Biotherapeutics intends to raise $3.63 million via a private placement of common stock, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Approximately 3.4 million of the shares will be sold to LFB Biotechnolgies SAS at $1.07 per share.

Also, GTC said that LFB exercised its option to purchase $12.8 million convertible preferred stock. The option was part of a shareholder-approved financing in July. LFB also converted its previously purchased preferred shares to 10.6 million shares of common stock.

The sale provided GTC with $6.4 million in cash proceeds.

"LFB shares GTC's vision of being an innovative company - trading on the Nasdaq market - that is developing recombinant versions of plasma proteins and monoclonal antibodies, including biosimilars," stated Christian Béchon, LFB's chairman and chief executive, in a press release.

"GTC's unique approved transgenic production technology enables us to jointly meet cost and production capability targets that provide a significant competitive advantage over other production systems. We particularly look forward to further advances in our joint factor VIIa program for hemophilia which is planned to move into the clinic in the first half of 2010."

Added Geoffrey F. Cox, GTC's CEO and chairman: "LFB has demonstrated its strong commitment to GTC in both the pipeline of programs in the joint venture collaboration and its continuing strategic investment in our company."

"LFB's commitment is particularly valuable in the uncertain market conditions for small and growing biotechnology companies. The investments and conversion into equity announced today are very important stepping stones to help GTC's goal to meet NASDAQ's listing compliance requirements.

"In addition to these equity transactions, GTC will be reducing expenses by focusing on the ATryn and factor VIIa programs, which is expected to generate savings of $5 [million to] $6 million in 2010."

GTC's stock (Nasdaq: GTCB) improved by 6 cents, or 5.61%, to $1.13. Market capitalization is $11.2 million.

GTC Biotherapeutics is a Framingham, Mass.-based developer and processor of human therapeutic proteins through transgenic technology.

Spot Coffee to issue units

Spot Coffee (Canada) will conduct a C$3 million non-brokered private placement of equity units, the company said in a news release.

The Toronto-based company will issue up to 15 million units consisting of one common share and one half-share warrant. Each unit will sell at C$0.20 and whole warrants are exercisable at C$0.25 for three years.

Proceeds will be used for expansion efforts, working capital and for the creation of a central kitchen in Toronto.

Alex Gress, senior vice president and director, said in an email to Prospect News that the deal is slated to close by the end of the fourth quarter.

"We feel the deal offers good value for existing and future SPoT COffee shareholders," Gress said. "For existing shareholders this allows the company to benefit from new expansionary capital being deployed into the development of new spot coffee locations that will increase the portfolio of cash flowing, company owned cafes. While for new shareholders this still represents an attractive valuation and entry point for a cash flowing company with incremental upside in the form of share purchase warrants with a three-year exercise period.

"The deal has effectively just launched and has been well seeded with our core investors," he added. "Additionally, we are continuing to see not only strong interest from Middle East investors that SPoT has access to, but as the business continues to develop we are seeing increased interest and support from North American investors as more US/Canadian investors are now back into the market to deploy capital."

Spot's equity (TSX Venture: SPP) ended unchanged at C$0.11. Market capitalization is C$284,510.

Advanced Cell seeks $2 million

Advanced Cell Technology will sell $2.4 million of promissory notes in a private placement valued at $2 million, according to a regulatory filing.

The notes can be converted into common shares at a price of $0.10 per share.

The notes will be sold in two equal tranches and are mandatorily redeemable on a monthly basis beginning in May. The redemption price is equal to 14.28% of the initial principal amount until the notes are paid in full.

Additionally, investors will receive 1 1/3-share warrants for every two shares underlying the notes. Whole warrants are exercisable at 110% of the closing price of the company's stock on the trading day preceding the initial closing of the financing. The strike price will not be less than $0.10.

The warrants are exercisable for five years.

Advanced Cell's stock (OTCBB: ACTC) fell a penny, or 11.5%, to $0.10. Market capitalization is $50.1 million.

Advanced Cell Technology is an Alameda, Calif.-based biotechnology company.

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