Gateway Mining has secured $45 million in firm commitments to fund an aggressive exploration campaign at its Yandal gold project in Western Australia. Jupiter Asset Management contributed $20 million as cornerstone investor in the placement, led by JP Equity Partners. The company will issue 562.5 million new shares at eight cents each, representing a 16.7% discount to its last closing price. Combined with existing cash holdings of $15.1 million at end-June, Gateway is now well-funded to execute its plans. The raising follows strong drill results at the Cowza prospect, which returned 41 metres grading 2 grams per tonne gold from 104 metres, including 9 metres at 7.5 grams per tonne. Gateway plans to deploy the funds across a 120,000-metre drilling campaign at multiple prospects including Cowza, Celia South, and Ward.

Apollo Silver has appointed Steven Thomas as chief financial officer, following a C$27.5 million private placement completed earlier this year. Thomas, formerly CFO at Torex Gold Resources, took over on 1 September and simultaneously resigned from Apollo's board, where he had served as lead independent director. The appointment comes as Apollo advances its Calico silver project in California and Cinco de Mayo project in Mexico. Calico contains approximately 110 million ounces of silver in measured and indicated categories, and Apollo began a preliminary economic assessment in March. Thomas brings over 30 years of international corporate finance experience, including previous CFO roles at Torex Gold Resources and mining businesses associated with Goldcorp and De Beers. He succeeds Chris Cairns, who stepped down to pursue another opportunity.

Catch the latest updates from Australia's premier stock exchange & market indices.