Gold explorer and developer Ariana Resources (AIM:AAU) is preparing to dual list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after completing an initial public offering (IPO) that raised $11 million.
The total funds came in above the minimum $10 million threshold Ariana was targeting, with Chess Depositary Interests – representing 10 underlying ordinary shares – being offered at $0.28 per share to investors.
Shaw and Partners acted as lead manager of the IPO, which had a top-end cut-off of $15 million, and Leeuwin Wealth assisted as co-manager.
Ariana, which is already listed on London’s secondary AIM exchange, anticipates it will light up the ASX boards on 15 September trading under ticker AA2.
Speaking exclusively to Mining.com.au, Managing Director Dr Kerim Sener says the IPO was well received by institutional investors in Australia and Hong Kong, as well as retail investors.
“The presentations that we gave to institutions largely based in Melbourne and Sydney, with some over here in Perth, went down very well,” he says.
“There’s a strong understanding of the opportunity that is presented by Dokwe, our flagship project in Zimbabwe.
“We certainly got good feedback from the institutions that we reached out to, and a number of them did participate in the IPO.”
Sener says there are some institutions of note joining Ariana’s register but is unable to name them at this juncture.
Newmont (NYSE:NEM) is one of Ariana’s existing shareholders, holding around 4% and funding exploration at the company’s projects in southeast Europe.
Sener tells this news service one of the main reasons for deciding to dual list on the ASX is that the Australian market is quite savvy from a particularly gold exploration and mining perspective given the country’s very much resource-driven economy.
“I’d say that the investor base as a whole is more savvy with respect to the nature of the investments that they’re willing to make, and also they’re able to ensure that there’s a better valuation ascribed to mining companies of our ilk,” he says.
Ariana is coming to the ASX with a steady source of cashflow from its stake in two gold mines in Türkiye at the same time as it is advancing towards a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at its 1.1-million-ounce Dokwe Project in Zimbabwe.
The company holds a 23.5% stake in a three-way joint venture covering the producing Kiziltepe and Tavsan mines in Türkiye. It also has development assets in Türkiye, Kosovo and Cyprus.
The mines have been profitable since 2016, allowing Ariana to return around $15.8 million in cash to shareholders as dividends.
“We are, I think, bolstered by the fact that we do have operational cash flow, and we’re not entirely beholden to the market in terms of financing our future business,” Sener notes.
The money raised from the IPO will be allocated to advancing the Dokwe project, with the DFS slated for release in mid-2026.
Ariana is planning further exploration to grow the resource and envisages the project will be a two-pit mining scenario across the Dokwe North and Dokwe Central pits.
“We’re already demonstrating that there’s a pathway to conversion of additional resources that are captured by the pits into ultimately higher categories of JORC as we continue to drill test those,” Sener says.
“But there’s also the exploration upside that exists at Dokwe North and Dokwe Central.
“We believe that there is a pathway to building this out to ultimately a production schedule involving about 100,000 ounces of gold production per annum over a 10-plus year mine life.”
Ariana previously identified a prospective soil anomaly about 125m northeast of the optimised pit rim at Dokwe North, which Sener says suggests there is the potential to identify another plunging shoot of gold mineralisation.
The company is planning a program of reverse circulation and diamond drilling.
“If we show that there is genuinely an opportunity to identify other zones of mineralisation there, that would significantly change the complexion of the Feasibility Study itself, because if we’re looking at a Dokwe North-esque type orebody of the grade and the depth and other characteristics that we’ve seen at Dokwe North, that would significantly add to the overall resource base,” Sener adds.
Drilling will begin once Ariana has completed its ASX listing.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
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