DGR Global paid A$2.5 million for 166.7 million shares at a 33% premium. The investment targets copper-gold discoveries in Ecuador's mineral belt, where Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte produced 510,000 ounces last year.
DGR Global has bought a 10% stake in Sunstone Metals, the companies said Tuesday, aligning two Australian-listed explorers around copper-gold targets in Ecuador.
DGR paid A$2.5 million for 166.7 million Sunstone shares at A$0.015 each, a 33% premium to the stock's last close. The placement gives DGR a board seat and a say in Sunstone's exploration strategy at its Bramaderos and El Palmar projects in southern Ecuador.
Both assets sit in the same mineral belt as Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte mine, which produced 510,000 ounces of gold last year. Sunstone has drilled 40,000 metres at Bramaderos since 2022, intersecting porphyry copper-gold mineralisation across multiple targets. The company's most recent results included 0.5% copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold over 200 metres from surface at the Loma Verde target.
DGR's model is to incubate early-stage projects through to discovery, then spin them out or farm them down. It holds stakes in several ASX-listed explorers, including a 28% position in Castillo Copper and a 19% holding in Arrow Minerals. The Sunstone investment is its first direct exposure to Ecuador.
Ecuador has drawn growing interest from major miners since a 2018 mining law reform clarified concession terms. SolGold's Cascabel project, also in the south, hosts one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits globally, with 11 million tonnes of copper and 23 million ounces of gold in resources. Newcrest Mining took a 27% stake in SolGold in 2020.
Sunstone's immediate priority is to extend the Bramaderos drilling programme, which has tested only a fraction of the 8-kilometre-long mineralised corridor. The company plans to drill 20,000 metres this year, funded by the DGR placement and existing cash of A$4.2 million.
DGR's investment comes with a 12-month escrow period on the shares. Sunstone's largest shareholder remains its founding team, who hold about 15% of the register.
The stock last traded at A$0.011, valuing the company at A$25 million.
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