Phosphate soars on ASX debut 1-July-08 by Rebecca LawsonLatest...

Phosphate soars on ASX debut

1-July-08 by Rebecca Lawson

Latest News

Phosphate soars on ASX debut - 01 Jul, 17:53pm

View all of today's news on our homepageWest Perth-based Phosphate Australia Ltd has made a stunning debut on the bourse today, with its share price closing at a near 200 per cent premium to its 20 cent issue price.

Despite another downturn in the share market today, shares in the company debuted at 56c before rallying to an intraday high of 61c and then cooling to close at 59c, giving the company a market capitalisation of just over $30 million.

At the centre of the company's suite of assets is the Highland Plains project, located in Australia's largest phosphate deposit region, the Cambrian Georgina Basin, which straddles the Northern Territory and Queensland border.

The project was originally discovered and explored in the late 1960s by Australian Geophysical, and contained a historic estimate of 82.6 million tonnes of phosphate grading 20 per cent.

However due to the low prices of phosphate at the time, the project did not progress past exploration.

Phosphate Australia plans to spend $2.3 million on first-year exploration costs across its five phosphate projects and $520,000 on its uranium and iron interests.

Former chief executive of United Minerals Corporation NL Jim Richards will take the role of non-executive chairman at Phosphate, while Andrew James will take the helm as managing director. Lisa Wells takes the role of executive director - technical while Grant Mooney is company secretary.