SA explorer raises $19m in IPO

Johannesburg — South Africa-based minerals explorer Southern Palladium, which is focused on platinum group metals (PGMs), and which is headed up by MD Johan Odendaal and chairperson Terence Goodlace, has raised $19-million in an initial public offering (IPO) ahead of its listing on the ASX. The company, which has a 70% interest in the Bengwenyama PGMs project on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, has also applied for a secondary listing on the JSE. As part of the IPO, it will issue 38-million shares priced at $0.50 a share to raise the $19-million. The amount represents a market capitalisation at the IPO price of $45-million, with an enterprise value of $26-million. The funds raised will be used to support the start of resource-definition drill programmes, a prefeasibility study and the lodgement of a mining right application for the Bengwemyama project, which has a high palladium/rhodium content. — Mining Weekly