The company has completed the definitive feasibility study for the project and all front-end engineering and design (FEED) work, paving the way for a final investment decision (FID) by the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Bardoc is now looking to raise more than $35 million in capital to help fund the costs of transitioning from explorer to developer to producer.

Chief executive officer Robert Ryan said this capital raising is a “landmark” for the company that will “result in the introduction of a number of tier-1 institutional and strategic investors”.

“We see this next phase of activity as very much a continuation of the strategy we have been pursuing over the past three years,” Ryan said.

“The three key elements (are) aggressive exploration to grow our resource base, selective and value-accretive acquisitions and mergers and the completion of high-quality development studies to progress the Bardoc gold project towards production.

“We are already well advanced towards achieving these goals as a result of the strong pre-feasibility study.”

The funds raised will be used to accelerate exploration and drilling work across the tenements at Bardoc’s Mayday North, North Kanowna Star and Vettersburg (Slug Hill) projects.

Ryan expects the company’s transition process to a fully-fledged producer to be complete in the next 12 to 18 months.