Zinc miner Group Eleven aims to raise up to €7m in flotation
IRISH Zinc explorer Group Eleven Resources is looking to raise as much as CAD$10m (€7m) as part as its planned flotation in Canada.
The company’s preliminary prospectus, issued in recent days, says it wants to raise between CAD$5m and CAD$10m. It also envisages an extra 15pc of shares being offered in the case of strong demand — a so-called “greenshoe option” — but the price per share has not been determined at this stage.
The company has exploration prospects in Limerick, Westmeath, and Longford and has recently bought ground from global mining giant Teck.
It now has the largest amount of ground of any zinc explorer operating here — with licences covering 3,200sq km.
Funds raised will be used to advance the exploration programme at its prospects and cover corporate costs.
The company is run by former Davy equity analyst Bart Jaworski. Its backers include former Davy corporate finance boss Hugh McCutcheon and Vancouver-headquartered MAG Silver, which has had success mining for silver in Mexico.
MAG is valued at more than CAD$1bn, and its former president and chief executive Daniel McInnis is Group Eleven’s chairman. Teck also has a stake in the business.
One of its prospects, known as Ballinalack, is located about 50km west of the Navan zinc mine operated by Swedish company Boliden.
Another prospect, Stonepark, is located adjacent to the Pallas Green prospect being drilled by Glencore. Stonepark is a joint venture with John Teeling’s Connemara Mining. Jaworski previously told the Sunday Independent that he hoped to complete the flotation by the end of the year.
He added that he would like to establish a listing in Dublin in future if it made sense.
“The reason to go to Canada is that Vancouver is really the capital of the junior resource market in the world.
“But if it made sense for us, I’d love to be listed in Dublin at some stage, in the not-too-distant future,” Jaworski said.
Zinc prices have rocketed since the beginning of last year — fuelling a resurgence in activity in Ireland, which is one of Europe’s biggest zinc producers.
The price rise has been fuelled by falling inventories and Group Eleven said it believes the price will continue to rise meaningfully in the near to medium term.