Newly established gold exploration company Mundo Minerals Ltd is planning one of the biggest gold floats seen recently on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Newly established gold exploration company Mundo Minerals Ltd is planning one of the biggest gold floats seen recently on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Mundo has already raised $4.5 million in seed capital from private and institutional investors and plans to raise a further $20 million in the next month through its initial public offering.
The company has targeted three projects in Brazil and Peru and is aiming to be in production within 18 months.
Mundo has been put together by former Deloitte corporate finance partner John Langford, who has been working on the company for the past year.
He has assembled an A-class board of directors that will be chaired by former Portman chairman and current Gindalbie Metals chairman George Jones.
Other directors include former Portman managing director Barry Eldridge, former WMC executive Brian Hurley and former Clayton Utz partner Rob McKenzie.
The company has also recruited Brazil-based mining geologist Michael Schmulian, who previously worked for WMC in Australia.
Mr Langford said Mr Schmulian, who is a director of Mundo, had already recruited a team of experienced staff to start wok on its first project in Brazil.
Mundo is planning to target mid-sized ore bodies, ranging in size from 300,000 to 700,000 ounces of gold.
He said big mining companies in South America were not interested in deposits of this size while small local companies did not have the financial or technical capacity to develop them.
Mundo's most advanced project is Brazil's Engenho project, which it bought for US$2.1 million (A$2.8 million) through a competitive tender run by AngloGold Ashanti.
Mr Langford said this was a good solid asset that would be in production in 18 months and provide $5 to $6 million in cashflow per year.
The company also has an option to buy a project in Peru for US$2 million, subject to confirming the size and quality of the ore body.
The project has been mined for the past 20 years by a private owner using rudimentary technology and Mr Langford said it offered high potential.
Its third project is a joint venture with in IAMGold in Brazil and involves Mundo spending US$1.3 million to acquire a 51 per cent interest.
