Mundo plans $20m float

Perth company Mundo Minerals has announced plans for a $20 million initial public offering and in the process may have set a new benchmark for gold exploration floats.

The Mundo IPO is distinguished by several features: it is much larger than most gold floats; it is targeting South America, where few Australian companies have ventured; and it has assembled an impressive board and management team.

The company was put together by former Deloitte corporate finance partner John Langford, who was clear from the start that he wanted to do something different.

“I didn’t want to do an IPO with grassroots exploration or an IPO that raised four or five million dollars,” he said.

Mundo has already raised $4.5 million from private and institutional investors and plans to raise a further $20 million in the next month through its IPO, to be underwritten by broking firm Tolhurst Noall.

The company has targeted three projects in Brazil and Peru and is aiming to be in production in Brazil within 18 months.

Mr Langford said the Brazil project would provide solid cash flow while the company continued exploration and development work at its other projects.

He believes the lack of exploration spending in South America has created a big opportunity, particularly for a company such as Mundo which is planning to target mid-sized ore bodies, ranging in size from 300,000 to 700,000 ounces of gold.

Mundo’s board of directors 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 work on its first project in Brazil.