2023 was a quiet year for Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) not only in Australia but around the world, however, there are positive signs at the start of a new year that the next 12 months will be a little more favourable.
After a difficult time for markets in 2023 owing to inflation, rising interest rates, cooling economies and lack of capital, market fundamentals are looking brighter for 2024.
There are a number of companies planning to list on the ASX early this year in the hope of being early movers in potentially improved markets.
First cab off the rank will be Kali Metals Ltd, which is set to list on Friday, January 5, to be followed by Infini Resources Ltd (ASX:I88), Golden Globe Resources Ltd on January 18 and Fuse Minerals Ltd on February 8.
Also planning listings early in 2024, although start-off dates are yet to be announced, are Ashby Mining Ltd, Far Northern Resources Ltd, The Australian Wealth Advisory Group and Western Australia Energy Resources Ltd.
Here is a summary of the IPO hopefuls.
Kali Metals
Lithium-focused Kali Metals Ltd is scheduled to list on the ASX on January 5, 2024, at 12:00 PM AEDT after raising A$15 million in a strongly supported IPO at A$0.25 per share.
Due to the strong level of interest in the IPO, Kali decided to raise the maximum subscription amount of $15 million, $3 million more than the original target.
Joint lead managers are Bell Potter Securities Limited and Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF, LSE:CF) (Australia) Limited.
Kali Metals has a portfolio of assets that represents one of the largest and most prospective exploration packages across Australia’s world-leading hard-rock lithium fields.
The 3,900 square kilometres exploration tenure is near existing, emerging and unexplored lithium and critical minerals regions in Western Australia including the Pilbara and Eastern Yilgarn as well as in the Lachlan Fold Belt in NSW and Victoria.
The portfolio comprises five main projects - DOM’s Hill Project, Higginsville Project, Jingellic and Tallangatta Project, Pear Creek Project and Marble Bar Projects. DOM's Hill, Pear Creek and Marble Bar are in the Pilbara, Higginsville in the Eastern Yilgarn, south of Kalgoorlie, and Jingellic and Tallangatta are around the NSW-Victoria border within the Lachlan Fold Belt.
Kali Metals has been established from the spin-out of a portfolio of Australian lithium assets owned by ASX-listed Kalamazoo Resources Limited combined with TSX-listed Canadian gold miner Karora Resources Inc and its highly prospective lithium mineral rights across an extensive range of projects south of Kalgoorlie in WA.
The board comprises an experienced management team with a proven track record of value creation, led by Graeme Sloan as managing director and Kalamazoo Resources’ chairman/CEO Luke Reinehr as non-executive chairman, supported by non-executive directors Paul Adams, John Leddy and Simon Coyle.
With the rapid growth of electric vehicle and renewable energy storage industries, the demand for lithium is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Kali is committed to playing a key role in meeting this demand and powering the global clean energy transition.
Infini Resources
Infini Resources Ltd (ASX:I88) plans to list on the ASX in the coming weeks, after raising A$5.3 million at A$0.20 per share.
Lead manager for the new energy metals company's IPO is Sixty Two Capital Pty Ltd.
Infini is focused on lithium and uranium commodities and has curated a diversified portfolio of eight greenfields and brownfields projects in tier-one mining jurisdictions across Canada and Western Australia.
READ: Infini Resources to hit the ASX boards with eight uranium and lithium projects
The company recently closed a $5.3 million raise, with funds to be used across its assets at a time when lithium and uranium headwinds could work in its favour.
“We've got some exceptional micro and macroeconomic tailwinds in the lithium and uranium markets, which really drive the exciting nature of our IPO,” Infini Resources CEO Charles Armstrong told Proactive.
The exploration projects Infini will hold on admission are considered highly prospective for lithium or uranium.
They include a 100% interest in Pegasus Lithium Project, Parna Lithium Project and Yeelirrie Project in Western Australia; a 100% interest in Des Herbiers Project and a 50% interest in the Valor Project in Québec, Canada; a 50% interest in claim MC00015793 (Tinco North Claim), and the option to acquire the remaining 50% interest and a 100% interest in claim MC00017688 (Tinco South Claim) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Note the Tinco Project is rich in uranium and niobium.
Also in the mix is a 100% interest in the Portland Creek Uranium Project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; and a 100% interest in the Paterson Lake Project in Ontario, Canada.
Fuse Minerals
Fuse Minerals Ltd is moving towards listing on February 8 and is conducting an IPO at
A$0.20 to raise A$10 million. Joint lead managers are Unified Capital Partners and Defender Asset Management.
The company has a strategy designed to deliver short, medium and long-term growth. Recognising a common slow decline for most explorers on the ASX, Fuse will tread a different path aimed at delivering short, medium and long-term growth via a sustainable business plan.
Centred on the projected uplift in metal and minerals demand and the need for mining companies to secure future mines, the business plan sets Fuse up as a supplier and identifies established mining companies as the customers.
As established miners look to secure the potential mines of the future needed to supply the green revolution, Fuse Minerals has established a portfolio of projects in favourable geological settings with the potential to deliver deposits of copper, nickel, silver, lead, zinc, uranium and gold.
Utilising a farm-out/farm-in model, with the right projects capable of delivering tier-1 scale deposits in commodities of interest to the tier-1 miners, Fuse will work to prove deposit potential and then partner early with those established miners, to fund further exploration and development.
This strategy avoids the need for constant capital raisings and associated dilution and downward pressure on share prices.
Fuse has a team with more than 50 years of combined experience in geological and exploration management, with Warren Mundine AO as non-executive chairman, as well as extensive knowledge in finance, corporate affairs, and governance, with the ability to establish connections with industry leaders.
Golden Globe Resources
Golden Globe Resources, which intends listing at 11:00 AM AEDT on January 18, is a dedicated gold exploration company with access to resource targets in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia.
The company aims to raise A$6 million in its IPO at A$$0.20 per unit with lead manager being KS Capital Pty. The key purpose of the offer is to provide additional funds to advance exploration on the company’s projects.
During the past four years the company has acquired four specific projects with high prospectivity - Dooloo Creek and Alma in Queensland, Crossways in Western Australia and Neila Creek in NSW - with all presenting large gold resource opportunities, including high-grade copper, and are in producing regions.
The company has done extensive drilling and sampling at the flagship Dooloo Creek Project, achieving strong results over the past two years, and now plans further drilling for all projects, with an immediate focus on Neila Creek in the Lachlan Fold Belt of Central West NSW and continuation at Dooloo Creek, 500 kilometres northwest by road from Brisbane.
Underlying Golden Globe Resources’ growth strategy is a strong belief that a systematic exploration program, over time, will yield results.
The company is led by an experienced board and geological team with expertise in the mining and exploration industry.
Ashby Mining
Ashby Mining Ltd aims to raise around $15 million in its IPO at A$0.20 per unit with a listing date to be announced. The underwriter/lead manager is CLSA Australia Pty Ltd.
The aspiring Australian mineral resources company, which is developing a gold production business in the Charters Towers region of northern Queensland, has secured rights to a land package covering more than 600 square kilometres.
This contains historical mines, mineral resources, highly prospective exploration potential and a gold processing plant, which will become assets of Ashby Mining on the company’s admission to the official list of the ASX.
The Blackjack processing facility is a conventional Carbon in Pulp (CIP) plant. It has recently been refurbished and modernised.
This plant is within 8 kilometres of Charters Towers with easy access to all major infrastructure including road links, rail, airport, grid electricity, water, housing and a ready workforce.
It is fully permitted and was last operated in 2020 with the capacity to process ~ 340,000 tonnes per annum. This can be increased through capital investment in select plant and equipment identified in completed process design study.
It is the only plant in the immediate Charters Towers region with capacity to process small parcels of high-grade ore.
Far Northern Resources
Explorer Far Northern Resources Ltd intends to raise A$6 million at A$0.20 per unit in its IPO with a listing date to be determined. Lead manager is CPS Capital Group Pty Ltd.
The company has three projects across North Queensland and the Northern Territory. The two tier-one projects, Empire and Bridge Creek, are significantly advanced, sit on mining leases, are drill-ready and host JORC-compliant resources.
Bridge Creek in the Northern Territory and Empire in North Queensland both have the potential for near-term production.
They have upside potential and will be subject to up to 20,000 metres of drilling on listing designed to test and increase the known resources.
Four new targets at the third project, Rock Reef, have been highlighted along a 20-kilometre NE structural trend emanating from a caldera in the southwest.
Sampling and mapping have highlighted anomalous gold and silver with breccias, sulphides, alteration and rhyolite porphyry.
Western Australia Energy Resources
Western Australia Energy Resources Ltd intends to raise A$5 million in its IPO at A$0.20 with a listing date to be confirmed. Lead manager is Alto Capital.
The company was incorporated to evaluate and secure investment possibilities in the resources industry and uncover economically significant mineral reserves to meet the world’s future energy demand.
While the company’s initial exploration focus will be on nickel, it has also looking into the possibility of other battery metals and commodities.
The flagship Jimberlana Project consists of two granted exploration licences and seven exploration licence applications about 60 kilometres west of Norseman. The project is easily accessible, with a series of tracks and grid lines connecting to a good quality road that connects to the highway at Norseman.
Key opportunities at the project include the Bronzite Ridge nickel laterite deposit, which has a JORC 2012 inferred resource of 9.25 million tonnes with 0.810% nickel and 0.051% cobalt.
Plans are in place to increase the confidence of this resource, and to evaluate different metallurgical options for commercialisation.
The company plans to explore for possible further nickel occurrences as extensions along strike from the Bronzite Ridge laterite and to investigate the potential for nickel sulphide discoveries.
Australian Wealth Advisory Group
Investment holding company The Australian Wealth Advisory Group (AWAG) is seeking to raise A$5 million at A$0.25 per unit with a listing date to be advised and a pending ASX code of WAG.
AWAG is a diversified financial services firm that specializes in investing in wealth advisory businesses to build a complete offering across the financial services sector.
AWAG specializes in mergers and acquisitions within the financial services sector.
Members of the AWAG group are:
CHPW Financial - a Melbourne-based financial advisor dealer group.
Armytage Private - a boutique investment management firm majority owned by members of its investment team and key executives.