Bushveld Minerals PLC (LON:BMN) has started work on an AIM listing for its tin business, Greenhills Resources, it confirmed today.
Greenhills comprises the Mokopane tin asset in South Africa, a near half share of the 85% owner of Uis in Namibia that it acquired in June for £650,000, and brownfield project Marble Hall.
READ: Bushveld Minerals shares soar as plans come together
“Greenhills Resources is well positioned for life as a stand-alone platform through an IPO on AIM in the near term, efforts for which are now already underway.
“This will allow Greenhills Resources to attract the dedicated resources (financial and human capital) to be successful as an African focused tin and associated metals champion.” it annual statement said.
Bushveld has made big strides with its vanadium business over the past year and is now a producer, but has always intended to get Greenhills to a size where it can stand on its own.
The company completed the acquisition of an effective 27% of South African vanadium mine Vametco in April, though this was after Bushveld’s latest year-end, which showed a loss of £1.72mln (£1.79mln) for the year to February.
Since then profits at Vametco have soared due to a rally in the vanadium price.
Interim underlying profits at the South Africa-based vanadium miner climbed to 85.5mln rand (£4.9mln) or 80% more than the whole of 2016.
Revenues for the period were 439mln rand (£25mln), compared to 760mln rand over the whole of 2016 even though half year production was little changed at 1,441 tonnes.
Shares in Bushveld eased 0.32p to 9.05p.