Cooper climbs on ASX debut

Cooper Metals is having a solid start to its first day of trading, as its search for copper and gold in Western Australia and Queensland continues.

The Perth-based business listed after raising the maximum through its initial public offering, being $4.8 million, with the raising priced at 20 cents and led by Taylor Collison.

Cooper's shares were trading as much as 24 cents this afternoon, before closing at 22 cents. 

That implies a market cap of $8.8 million.

The company has two projects in WA, called Yamarna and Gooroo. Its flagship asset is the Mt Isa East project in Queensland, which covers 1,300 square kilometres and is prospective for both copper and gold.

Some of the IPO proceeds will be used to fund exploration across all three projects, with the company to test several targets.

“With copper and gold prices at near all-time highs, coupled with Cooper’s modest market capitalisation, the company’s share price is highly leveraged to any exploration success,” managing director Ian Warland said.

Cooper’s board also includes non-executive chairman Michael Frayne and non-executive director Timothy Armstrong.

The company joins a number of newly listed explorers on the ASX, including West Perth-based Evolution Energy Minerals, which commenced trading this week, and Dundas Minerals and Hamelin Gold, which both listed earlier this month.