History
Gentor began as an Idaho molybdenum explorer, then pivoted in 2010 to Oman copper, funding the move through a string of private placements.
2007-2008: The Idaho moly project
Gentor began as an explorer in Idaho. In July 2007 its subsidiary, Gentor Idaho, took an option, assigned by president Lloyd Bardswich's own LLC, to lease and eventually buy a historic tungsten mine near Patterson. The price was up to $5 million in staged payments, plus a 3-5% royalty to the original claim owner. The mine had once been the fifth-largest US tungsten producer before closing in 1957.
Drilling followed at the IMA Mine. Gentor announced assay results for the first two holes in January 2008, for the next two in February (when it also moved its head office from Whitehall, Montana to Patterson, Idaho), and for three more in April. In August 2008, after a 21,000-foot drill program finished in May, Gentor published its first formal estimate: an inferred resource of 5.7 million tons grading 0.15% molybdenum.
2009: A quiet year
The record then goes quiet. No major disclosures appear between the resource estimate in August 2008 and February 2010, and the beats do not say why.
2010: The pivot to Oman
In February 2010 Gentor agreed to buy APM Mining Ltd. from Arabian Peninsula Projects Ltd. for 10.36 million restricted shares. The deal gave it earn-in rights to copper exploration ground in the Sultanate of Oman, a sharp turn away from Idaho. It closed on 8 March 2010. Bardswich and director Kitt Dale resigned, and Donat Madilo, then chief financial officer of Banro Corporation, became CFO. Peter Ruxton became president and chief executive. The head office moved to Toronto, and Deloitte & Touche replaced BDO Canada as auditor in April.
Paying for Oman meant raising money repeatedly. In April 2010 Gentor raised $2 million from one non-US investor, selling 4 million units at $0.50. In November it raised $2.08 million from two non-US investors at roughly $0.75 a unit. A $5.25 million private placement was announced days later, the largest since the pivot. In late December Gentor reported a further $2.75 million of units sold to non-US investors through November. Shares on issue rose from 52,851,672 at the end of 2010 to 62,753,840 a year later.
2011: Raising at higher prices
The funding continued into 2011. In February Gentor reported $4.49 million raised from investors in January. On 8 November 2011 it raised CAD$2.16 million in a brokered offering at CAD$1.00 a unit, with CAD$1.25 warrants. That was well above the roughly $0.50 to $0.75 a unit paid in 2010.
As of that date, Gentor was a Toronto-based explorer focused on its Oman copper ground through APM Mining. The Idaho option had not been converted into a purchase in the record available.
The beats cover nothing after November 2011.
Written from the 13 story beats below (2007 to 8 Nov 2011), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.