Orion Minerals (ASX:ORN) is now in the process of raising AU$11 million for its Prieska zinc-copper project in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

The company intends to raise the money through a placement to investors and will issue shares at AU$0.037 each. It’s expected that this will happen over two stages, with the first being 91.6 million shares sold to raise AU$3.4 million and the second being 205.7 million shares sold for AU$7.6 million.

The latter stage will be subject to shareholder approval, which will be determined in early August.

Funds acquired from the placement will go towards finalizing the bankable feasibility study for Prieska; it is scheduled to be completed later this year or in early 2019.

The money will also go towards working capital, and will fund exploration programs on the company’s other tenements in the Northern Cape region.

“Our primary focus is Prieska, however, given the quantum of funds raised under the placements, we are also in the fortunate position of being able to invest in the exploration of our highly prospective landholdings that present significant potential further upside for shareholders,” Orion Managing Director and CEO Errol Smart said in a statement.

Along with the AU$11-million placement, Tembo Capital Mining Fund will be subscribing for AU$6.3 million in shares, which will eventually give the company just under 23-percent ownership in Orion.

Prieska is one of the company’s Areachap projects, which also include the Marydale gold-copper project. Elsewhere in South Africa, Orion holds the Masiqhame zinc-copper project and the Jacomynspan nickel-copper-cobalt-PGMs project.

Orion has ongoing exploration projects in Australia as well, including Connors Arc, an epithermal gold-silver project, along with the Fraser Range gold deposit and the Nova-Bolinger nickel-copper deposit.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.