INTERVIEW: Australia's Anvil Mining Eyes UK Share Listing
17 September 2007
Source: Dow Jones International News
By Stephen Bell
PERTH (Dow Jones)--Expanding African copper producer Anvil Mining (AVM.AU) said it is likely to list its shares in London after struggling to attract interest from Australian investors.
Bill Turner, CEO of Anvil, told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview Friday the Perth-based company has become frustrated at the lack of Australian support for its mine developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The majority of daily turnover in Anvil's shares occurs via its Toronto share market listing, with "less than 10%" traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, Turner said in an interview.
"If you don't trade much here and don't generate much market interest, you've got to question whether all the bureaucratic hassles that you need to deal with by having a listing here are worth it," he said.
"We're more likely to go to London and list there," he said. "It is reasonably likely that we'll do that. And given where we are - a A$1.4 billion company - we'd go straight onto the main board there."
Anvil listed in Toronto in mid-2004 after local investors shied away from backing its Congo operations.
In three years trading in Canada Anvil has raised C$385 million to fund its African program, Turner said.
"Australia is a big mining country, but we seem to be very insular in terms of who we are willing to support in the international arena," he said.
Anvil recently commissioned its third mine in Congo, the Kinsevere venture, which is expected to produce around 23,000 metric tons of copper per year.
It has also approved a US$238 million expansion of the mine, part of its forecast doubling of copper production to 100,000 tons per year by 2010.
Anvil's planned shift to London trading continues the trend of Australian companies looking offshore to bankroll their African mines.
Perth-based Equinox Minerals listed in Canada in 2004 and received strong backing there for its US$584 million Lumwana copper project in Zambia.
Last October Perth-based African gold hopeful Moto quit its ASX listing to focus on the London and Canadian markets.
In early afternoon trade Monday, Anvil's shares were untraded. They closed Friday at A$19.95.
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