Rubicon Minerals Corp. said Dec. 24 it closed a nonbrokered private placement of 4,256,236 flow-through shares at C$1.35 apiece, raising about C$5.8 million.

The company intends to use the funds for Canadian exploration expenses.

Rubicon owns the Phoenix gold project in northwestern Ontario. It also controls over 285 square kilometers of exploration ground in Red Lake and over 900 square kilometers of mineral property interests in the emerging Long Canyon gold district on the Nevada-Utah border.