Sky News understands that Mr Bacchus, a former natural resources banker at Morgan Stanley, has raised the money from investors including Pinkie Green, one of the co-founders of what became the mining and commodities trading behemoth Glencore.

Others who have participated in the funding round include Ted Grobicki, a former executive at Harmony Gold, and David Reading, former chief executive of European Goldfields.

The capital injection is expected to be announced publicly on Thursday.

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The new money will be used to finance an exploration and drilling project at Whale Cove in Canada's Nunavut Territory.

Mr Bacchus has assembled an experienced team to oversee the plans, led by Mr Reading, who was also the former chief geologist at Randgold Resources.

After leaving Morgan Stanley, Mr Bacchus founded Yellow Cake, a trader of physical uranium, which went public on the London stock market in 2018 at a valuation of $200m.

It is now worth roughly ten times that sum.

"BG Gold and the Whale Cove Gold Project represent a highly prospective opportunity, offering spectacular historic intercepts located in a tier one jurisdiction," Mr Bacchus said.

"We are particularly proud to have assembled such an experienced team and highly credentialed backers, with whose support and expertise we plan on uncovering and exploiting the huge potential of the project."