Shares in BMC Minerals Ltd (ASX: BMC) got off to a strong start on their first day on the ASX on Friday, changing hands at more than a 20% premium to their offer price.
The shares in the silver and zinc mining aspirant traded as high as $2.44 before settling back slightly to be changing hands for $2.40, 20% up on the company's initial public offer (IPO) price.
BMC raised $100 million before listing on the ASX in what it described as a "heavily oversubscribed" initial public offer.
Pushing forward with development
BMC chair Steven Michael said it was an important milestone for the company which would now press on with developing its Kudz Ze Kayah (KZK) mine project in the Yukon region of Canada, which the company said would be the nation's largest silver and zinc operation once brought into production.
Mr Michael went on to say:
BMC is focused on accelerating the existing workstreams at our 100%-owned KZK polymetallic project by planning a major drilling program to commence early in the new year and anticipate receiving several licences and permits from Yukon and Federal regulatory bodies. We look forward to executing on our growth strategy, at a time when silver, gold and copper prices are extremely strong and establishing the ABM Mine as Canada's largest silver and zinc producer and a top 15 copper producer.
The company said it had owned the KZK project since 2015, and since then had delineated 27.9 million tonnes of ore across two deposits, ABM and Kona.
The company said it had completed a feasibility study which showed the ABM deposit could be mined for nine years, with a payback period of about two years.
The company added on Friday:
BMC has completed a range of technical studies at ABM based on the development of a 2 million tonne per annum mine, which contemplates that about 89% of ore reserves will be mined via open pits and 11% from an underground mine, which will be developed to access the deeper portions of the Krakatoa zone. The company's feasibility study has outlined a pre-tax net present value of US$835 million for the ABM Mine at conservative commodity prices compared to the current long-term consensus, with a capital payback period of about 2 years.
The mine would produce three concentrates conating silver and gold, copper, and zinc, with binding offtake agreements already signed across all commodities for the first five years of production.
The $100 million raised in the IPO will now be used for more exploration to extend the potential mine life and to complete optimisation studies.
