Big shareholders have upped their stake in a Tasmanian tungsten mining hopeful.
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Richard and Gwenda Chadwick increased their holding in King Island Scheelite Limited from 16.48 per cent of voting power to 18.26 per cent.
They were issued about 9.1 million shares plus options as repayment of the principal of a $500,000 loan Abex Resource Holdings - a company linked to the Chadwicks - made to King Island Scheelite in 2020.
The loan was for working capital for activities related to its Dolphin tungsten project at Grassy.
The share issue was approved by shareholders in early May.
King Island Scheelite has been working towards potential mining at Dolphin for years.
It has been buoyed by recent price improvements.
The company's March quarter report said the tungsten price had increased by 30 per cent since the start of the financial year.
It recently raised $5.6 million though an oversubscribed share placement, while the state government offered a $10 million loan to support the project.
"With a significantly strengthened balance sheet, the company looks forward to negotiating from a much better position the debt and equity components required to fund the redevelopment of the Dolhin tungsten mine," it said.
It expected to finalise discussions about a project debt facility and with equity brokers in the current or September quarter.
The company describes Dolphin as one of the world's richest tungsten deposits.
The old Dolphin Mine operated between 1917 and 1992,
It closed because of low tungsten prices at the time, rather than lack of tungsten.