The South Australian company today said it placed 3.75 million shares at 80c per share to raise the $3 million before expenses.

Petratherm said the placement price of 80c represented a discount of 7.5% on the 20-day volume weighted average price of 86.5c for the period of March 13 to April 11.

The company said the funds raised will be used to develop its Australian and Spanish operations through “research, additional tenement acquisition and assessing the potential of geothermal sites”.

Petratherm also announced a share purchase plan (SPP) to enable shareholders to purchase up to $5000 worth of fully paid ordinary shares at the same discount price.

The SPP, underwritten by Taylor Collison to the extent of $2 million, is due to open on April 24 and close on May 14.

Petratherm recently announced a joint venture with Beach Petroleum to develop its advanced Paralana hot rock energy project in South Australia and acquired two new exploration licences near Renmark in the state.

In February, the company announced it had expanded its acreage in Barcelona, Spain.