Indochine Mining to raise millions

Gold and copper miner Indochine Mining Ltd, which is exploring concessions in two Cambodian provinces, said it expects to raise as much as A$25 million (US$24.5 million) in an initial public offering after receiving commitments from investors around the world.

Indochine’s Phnom Penh-based operations manager and board member Ross Hill said that many institutional investors were seeking exposure to Cambodia’s gold and copper resources, with investors confirmed from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States, Papua New Guinea, China, Malaysia and Australia.

“Already attracted at an early stage and continuing to support the company are some of the world’s most prestigious and professional investment houses,” he told the Post via email.

“For example, the company’s largest single investor Jabre Capital Partners is one of Europe’s biggest and the best performing fund in 2009.”

Geneva-based Jabre has $4 billion in funds under management, according to its website.

Sydney-headquartered Indochine will list on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) by early November with its IPO due to close to institutional investors “in coming days” and to retail investors shortly thereafter, Hill wrote.

Priced at A$0.20 per share, Indochine aimed to raise $12 million with provision to float another $13 million worth of shares, depending on market demand.

“Current indications are that the company will have received applications at the higher end of the [$12 - $25 million] range by the time the offer closes,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.

Indochine also announced the hire of a new chief executive, Stephen Promnitz, who is currently the corporate development manager of ASX-listed Kingsgate Consolidated, which owns and operates the Chatree gold mine in  neighbouring Thailand.

Hill said Indochine’s former chief and company founder, David Evans, supported the change of leadership.

“[He] recognises that the injection of a contemporary career professional executive, with worldwide development experience including Thailand, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and Argentina, would be of enormous assistance to further advance, develop and enhance the prospects of the company,” he said.

Evans remains with the company as an executive director.

Indochine began exploring in Cambodia in 2007. With tenements of 2,900 square kilometres in Ratanakkiri province and 1,400 square kilometres in Kratie province, it claims to have the largest landholding of all miners in the Kingdom.

Hill said the new funds would be used to start drilling multiple key targets that the company has identified.

Meanwhile, Cambodia-focused gold explorer Brighton Mining Group has officially listed on the ASX with shares set to start trading within the next ten days, after reaching its A$2.2 million target in a recent IPO.

The Perth-headquartered company, with tenements in Mondulkiri, declined to comment on its investor base or company plans, saying it would wait until shares began trading.

(source from the PhnomPenh post newspaper, Tuesday, 12 October 2010 22:38 Jeremy Mullins)