Aberdeen put US$1 million into Fura as part of a wider private placement this month, bringing up its ownership by 1.6 million shares, to 16.9% overall.

Fura said it would use the $4.5 million raised in the first tranche, which closed last week, in part to pay for the Gemfields project Coscuez.

A second tranche will close at the end of the month.

Gemfields' former COO Dev Shetty announced his new company would take over the Coscuez asset in October, and the sale closed this week with $2.5 million changing hands as part of a total $10.2 million price spread over some years.

Fura now owns 76% of the historic project.

The region is home to thousands of artisanal miners and Coscuez is already being mined on a "small-scale" basis, Fura said.