West Perth-based mining company India Resources Ltd has closed its public offer for the evaluation of opportunities for copper mining in India oversubscribed, after raising $11 million.
West Perth-based mining company India Resources Ltd has closed its public offer for the evaluation of opportunities for copper mining in India oversubscribed, after raising $11 million.
The company aims to restart the historic Surda copper mine in Jharkhand in cooperation with government enterprise Hindustan Copper Ltd, which India Resources is looking to re-start at a rate of 4,500 tonnes of copper concentrate per annum.
The mine was closed in 2003.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
India Resources Limited (IRL) has closed its Initial Public Offer heavily oversubscribed, having raised $11 million to develop its suite of resources opportunities in India.
The offer opened on April 23 when IRL sought to raise $10 million with an oversubscription facility of $1 million. The heavy demand for the offer resulted in a complete take up of the IPO and the full oversubscription facility.
Through the IPO, IRL offered 50 million shares at an issue price of $0.20 each, with attached listed options. IRL proposes to list on the ASX in late May.
IRL chairman Michael Kiernan said the strong demand for IRL shares from both institutional and retail shareholders was recognition of the quality of the company's assets and opportunities for growth in India.
"We welcome new shareholders on board, and look forward to driving the projects in India to the next phase," Mr Kiernan said.
"We believe that investors have a great opportunity within the Indian resources industry, which is not as developed to the extent as Australia's and South Africa's, primarily due to the lack of exploration and cost-effective mining techniques.
"India has world class ore bodies and we look forward to growing our local relationships to mine resources using Australian cost effective mining techniques," Mr Kiernan said.
India Resources primary project is the previously operated Surda copper mine in the Singhbhum copper belt in India. In alliance with Hindustan Copper Limited (a Government of India enterprise), IRL has an annual production target of 4,500 tonnes of copper concentrate.
Mr Kiernan said IRL primary focus now was to continue moving toward re-opening of the Surda mine over the coming year. The mine closed in 2003 and for the six years prior produced 1,473,000 tonnes at an average grade of 0.9% copper. He said IRL would also investigate development of a diverse range of other resource opportunities in India.
"There is a growing view within India that the Australian mining industry can deliver the expertise to drive efficient extraction of resources to meet domestic demand.
"The key indicators show India is expected to achieve GDP growth of at least 9% in the coming year" Mr Kiernan said.
"While attention has focused on China's spectacular economic progress in recent years, India has quietly surged to be the world's fourth-largest economy (after the United States, China and Japan)," Mr Kiernan said.
Carmichael Capital Markets Pty Limited was the Lead Manager to the Offer.
