Listed equities investors Wilson Asset Management (WAM) and Tribeca Investment Partners have taken stakes in gold ore sample analysis business Chrysos Corporation in what may be the company’s final pre-IPO fundraising round.
WAM and Tribeca have joined Regal Funds Management on the Chrysos share register with Regal also investing in the latest round.
South Australia-based Chrysos’ PhotonAssay technology bombards samples with high energy X-rays which excite atomic nuclei enabling enhanced analysis of gold, silver and complementary elements.
According to Chrysos, the technology is faster and more accurate than conventional assaying techniques and is suitable for use on mine sites as well as in laboratories. Analysis can be completed in as little as two minutes and is non-destructive allowing for samples to be retained undamaged.
Chrysos chief executive Dirk Treasure said the market-leading technology had been developed by CSIRO over 15 years and commercialised by Chrysos over the last five years. PhotonAssay was a much cheaper, cleaner and safer alternative to destructive high temperature fire assay that had been used for hundreds of years.
The company’s assay units are currently being used in Western Australia and Victoria and, by the end of the year, units should be delivered to customers in Africa and North America.
Treasure said an ASX-listing in the near term was a possibility but for the present the company was focusing on scaling up operations.