Companies: AR.    RAB    RSS   

Archipelago Resources, which is looking for gold in Indonesia, is to receive £2.25 million from the aggressive RAB investment group through a placing at 34.54p.

RAB Special Situations Fund will pay the money to AIM-quoted Archipelago in four instalments, two this month, a third in October and the last in December. That will give RAB 6.6 per cent of London-based Archipelago, headed by Australian entrepreneur Colin Loosemore, which has 85 per cent of the Toka Tindung gold project in Indonesia's North Sulawesi district, with a current estimated resource of 1.75 million oz.

Archipelago, which also has a joint venture in Vietnam and an option over a project in the Philippines, arranged the placing through Ambrian Partners. Loosemore says the company expects to bring Toka Tindung into production in the middle of next year at an annual rate of 160,000 oz.

Floated two years ago at 23.5p, Archipelago raised £7.9 million at 34p in May. It is possible the company may need some more money in the not too distant future, especially if developments in Vietnam accelerate.

At 35p, the shares' appeal is speculative.