It’s been a stellar first day of trading for ASX newcomer Pioneer Lithium (ASX:PLN), with shares up 70% compared to its initial public offering (IPO) price.
Under its IPO, the lithium hopeful raised $5 million at $0.20 per share to join the ranks of listed explorers chasing battery metals in Canada.
As of 1:45pm AEST on Thursday 28 September, Pioneer shares were trading at $0.34. Pioneer listed with a market capitalisation of $9.4 million and an enterprise value of $4.3 million.
Investors are backing Pioneer’s string of lithium assets in Canada: the Root Lake (90% owned) and Lauri Lake (100% owned) projects in Ontario and the wholly owned LaGrande Project in the prolific James Bay region of Quebec.
With its ASX listing now secured, Pioneer says its immediate focus will be on exploration at Root Lake and LaGrande, with prospecting, airborne surveys, mapping, and sampling planned across the 2 sites.
And it will be former Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) executive Clinton Booth at the Pioneer helm, as announced by the company on Thursday morning.
Booth, who has been appointed Pioneer CEO, has more than 2 decades of experience in the mining and energy sectors, having held multiple senior roles at FFI — most recently as Head of Global Integration, where he oversaw the transition and integration of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and joint venture (JV) transactions.
Booth has also held roles at Allkem (ASX:AKE) — formerly known as Galaxy Resources — and has worked in Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe, as well as North and South America.
Speaking on his new role with Pioneer Lithium, Booth says: “The asset base which Pioneer has secured is second to none.
The Root Lake Project is one of the most strategic lithium assets I have ever seen in my career, being located between 2 existing deposits, with compelling potential for future exploration to extend this known lithium mineralisation onto Pioneer’s ground.
“The Root Lake Project is one of the most strategic lithium assets I have ever seen in my career…”
Previous exploration has already confirmed the presence of high-grade spodumene mineralisation, and we are looking forward to a period of significant newsflow in the weeks and months ahead as our maiden exploration campaign ramps up.
With a clear focus to become a developer and miner, we are looking forward to playing a significant role in the rapidly growing North American battery materials market.”
Leading Pioneer alongside Booth will be Executive Chairman Robert Martin and Non-Executive Directors Nigel Broomham, Agha Shahzad Pervez, and Gerard O’Donovan.
Pioneer’s primary focus, its Root Lake asset, lies directly between Green Technology Metals’ (ASX:GTI) Root Bay and Morrison/McCombe lithium deposits.
Pioneer begins trading on the ASX with roughly $5.23 million cash at hand, and the company plans to dedicate more than half of this — some $2.8 million — to exploration and development work in Canada.
Write to Joshua Smith at Mining.com.au
Images: Pioneer Lithium
