The company announced a private placement of convertible notes to be managed by UK firm Capstan Capital Partners.
The funds raised will be used to complete a bankable feasibility study on the Moonshine magnetite and Ularring hematite deposits in WA's Yilgarn region.
Moonshine has an indicated and inferred resource of 1.31 billion tonnes at 30.1% iron, but metallurgical work suggests that can be upgraded to 68.5-69.1% iron.
The Ularring project has an indicated resource of 54.46Mt at 47.2% iron and an inferred resource of 26Mt at 45.4% iron, with an earlier prefeasibility study focusing on producing a 60.1% iron sinter fines product.
"Macarthur Minerals has invested over C$60 million in the Moonshine and Ularring iron ore projects," Macarthur executive chairman Cameron McCall said.
"We are extremely excited to begin moving the projects to the next level and our objective of advancing to production in a timely manner."
McCall said the initial focus would be the large magnetite resource.
"What makes this project unique is the close proximity to existing underutilised rail and port infrastructure," he said.
The projects are close to the rail line that runs directly to Esperance port.
Iron ore has risen as high as US$90 per tonne in recent weeks after Vale was forced to lower capacity in Brazil following the deadly Brumadinho tailings dam collapse.
"The recent disruption in supply in the iron ore market creates a market that is seeking high grade low impurity products, and the Moonshine magnetite product is ideally suited to fill this supply void and to meet this shift in product preference by the major Chinese and global markets," McCall said.
"This convertible note enables the company to move forward and produce a comprehensive plan for the monetisation of its iron ore assets whilst protecting current shareholders from further immediate dilution.
"At this stage we have had preliminary interest from a number of potential institutional investors and will update the market once the process has moved forward."
Macarthur raised C$350,000 in a private placement at 4c last month.
Shares in the company closed 10% higher overnight at 5.5c.
