Spitfire set for take-off after closing A$6M manganese IPO heavily oversubscribed
- A$6M Offer comprising 30M shares at 20c closes early and heavily oversubscribed.
- Outstanding investor response with strong Australian and International institutional & retail demand.
- ASX listing scheduled for mid-December 2007.
- Aggressive manganese exploration to commence in 2008 at South Woodie Woodie Project.
Australian resource company Spitfire Resources Limited is set for a
pre-Christmas debut on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX Code:
SPI) after today announcing that it had closed its A$6 million Initial
Public Offer (IPO) a week early and heavily oversubscribed.
The Perth-based company said today (Sunday) that it had achieved its
full subscription level (including the full level of oversubscriptions)
well ahead of the scheduled 30 November closing date following an
exceptional response from a broad range of Australian and International
institutional and retail investors. Spitfire is now preparing for an ASX
listing around 14 December 2007.
“We are delighted with the investor response, which reflects the
potential of our South Woodie Woodie Project combined with a very high
level of market interest in manganese assets worldwide,” commented
Spitfire’s Managing Director, James Hamilton. “The significant manganese
price increases seen this year reflects strong underlying demand and
tightness in supply which is putting the spotlight on potential new
supply sources.
“Spitfire has a simple and focused exploration and growth strategy,
based on an initial aggressive exploration program to test eight
priority manganese resource targets at South Woodie Woodie in March at
the start of the 2008 field season,” Mr Hamilton added.
The Company lodged a Prospectus with the Australian Securities and
Investments Commission (ASIC) on 22 October for the offer of up to 20
million shares at 20c each, to raise up to A$4 million with provision to
accept oversubscriptions of up to a further 10 million shares at 20
cents to raise a further $2 million.
At completion of the IPO, Spitfire will have 61 million shares on issue
with the project vendor, AIM-listed Churchill Mining, holding 25 million
shares or 41% as vendor consideration.
The South Woodie Woodie Project comprises three granted Exploration
Licences covering an area of approximately 490km2. The principal area of
initial exploration focus lies about 50km down-strike from the 1Mtpa
Woodie Woodie manganese mine.
Exploration success at South Woodie Woodie through the delineation of
strategic manganese resources would position Spitfire to capitalise on
strong levels of investor and market interest in the manganese sector,
which has experienced a dramatic turnaround in the past six months
following a significant tightening in the international market.
Underlying demand for manganese remains strong, with the market forecast
to continue to grow at an average of 7% per annum, underpinned by
strong Chinese demand. Manganese prices generally track iron ore prices
with the mineral being a non-substitutable input in the steel-making
process, where it is used to strengthen and harden steel.
While manganese is abundant worldwide, high-grade (+48% Mn),
low-phosphorus manganese ore of the style which is typically found in
the East Pilbara region is not, and is regarded as a strategic mineral
globally.