ASX- and TSX-listed exploration company Xanadu Mines has engaged financial consultant Bacchus Capital Advisers as its strategic and project funding adviser in relation to the Kharmagtai copper/gold project, in the South Gobi region of Mongolia.

Xanadu is executing a prefeasibility study (PFS) at Kharmagtai – a 50:50 joint venture with Zijin Mining Group.

The PFS will be completed in the third quarter of this calendar year, resulting in a gating decision to a feasibility study and a financial investment decision.

Upon completion of the PFS, Xanadu has defined several paths available to carry the project and company forward.

This includes potentially funding its 50% share of feasibility study and construction costs through project financing, which the company says may include debt, equity, royalties and streaming components.

It may also consider a put option with Zijin to sell half of its share in the project for $25-million or a put option with Zijin to sell its entire stake in the project for $50-million.

Alternatives are still to be defined, Xanadu says.

Xanadu describes Bacchus as a “well-respected adviser to the mining industry in the areas of project financing, transaction structuring and mergers and acquisitions”.

It also notes that financial services firm Jefferies remains Xanadu’s mergers and acquisitions adviser.

“We are pleased to have Bacchus on board as our strategic and project funding adviser. Bacchus has significant experience in helping companies of similar scale and complexity navigate through opportunities and partnerships like ours.

“We believe that, with Bacchus on board, together with Jefferies as our mergers and acquisitions adviser, we have the right team to create the most value for our shareholders from our world-class Kharmagtai project,” says Xanadu executive chairperson and MD Colin Moorhead.