Third gold miner in as many weeks to list

Thursday, 21 October 2010
Jeremy Mullins
Phnom Penh Post

GOLD mining firm Liberty Mining will list on the Australia Stock Exchange next year, partly to finance exploration activities on Cambodian gold projects acquired yesterday.

The firm’s announcement joins a number of other Cambodia-focused junior miners which have recently announced initial public offerings, including Indochine Mining Ltd and Brighton Mining Group.

Richard Stranger, managing director of Liberty Mining, said that the large number of IPOs conducted by junior miners in Cambodia were largely coincidental, as the offerings required planning months ahead.

Exploring for minerals could be an expensive business, he said, but offering portions of the firm for sale could bring in revenues required for exploration.

“To list on the stock exchange is a very good and credible way [to raise capital],” he said.

High gold prices on international markets also made the IPOs potentially more lucrative, he added.

Liberty announced the 100 percent acquisition of Summer Gold Investment Pvt, including its Mondulkiri Gold Kang Roland Project, the Oyadao Summer Gold tenement in Ratanakiri, and increased its stake of the Andong Meas project to 100 percent, in a filing by its parent firm Transol to the ASX.

The acquisition is conditional on the IPO. To acquire Summer Gold, Liberty will initially pay US$350,000, followed by $1.7 million worth of shares issued after it is listed on the ASX, along with future concessions. The newly acquired properties join tenements Liberty already holds in Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey provinces.

The size of the Liberty IPO planned for early next year was not yet finalised, but it would “let Liberty go on its own journey”, said Stranger, who is also president of the Cambodian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies.

Liberty Mining’s efforts to locate gold and other resources were still at an early stage, some five to 10 years away from extracting minerals, he said.

“We have to spend a lot of money,” he said, and added that mineral exploration carried a high degree of risk for companies involved. He said the firm was carrying out exploration on its current properties, but that the rainy season added a certain challenge.

“It’s amazingly wet out there,” he said.

Summer Gold officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, officials at another miner with interests in Cambodia, Indochine Mining, aims to close its ongoing IPO shortly. Indochine Mining said last week it may raise as much as A$25 million (US$24.5 million). It has tenements in Rattankiri and Kratie province.

Another miner with tenements in Mondulkiri, Brighton Mining, has officially listed on the ASX with trading to start within the next week, after reaching its A$2.2 million IPO target.