Formerly known as International Silver Ridge, the company acquired half of New Guinea Gold's Imwauna and Sehulea projects on Normanby Island last year.

PNG Gold recently graduated to a Tier 2 listing on Toronto's Venture Exchange and this week established terms for a private placement of 46.67 million shares at C75c each to raise $35 million.

This deal is expected to close around July 26, and the shares issued under this placement will be subject to a hold period of four months.

"We are very pleased to have arranged this financing under the current difficult market conditions," PNG Gold president and chief executive officer Dick Whittington said.

"These funds will allow us to move quickly to increase our exploration and development activities at the Imwauna property with the objective of putting out a 43-101 compliant resource on the property by the second quarter of 2012.

"Over the balance of 2011 we will update the market with exploration data as drilling occurs."