The ASX has a new uranium and gold explorer, with Piche Resources (ASX:PR2) making its debut on Monday.
The junior explorer listed following the completion of a $10 million IPO, led by Euroz Hartleys, priced at $0.20 per share, giving it a market value of just over $16 million prior to listing.
Piche says Euroz introduced a number of international and Australian funds to its register, combined with high net worth, retail investors and Piche directors and management.
However, shares opened trade on 15 July at 12pm AEST at $0.16, a 20% discount to the IPO price.
By the closing bell yesterday around 2.2 million shares, valued at over $340,000, had changed hands, with shares only reaching a high of $0.175 and closing at $0.155.
Piche’s immediate key focus is on its Ashburton Project in Western Australia, where previous drilling in the 1980s delivered defined a traget zone extending for 50km along strike and returning grades of over 1% uranium from the Angelo River Prospect.
The company says these “high-grade” intervals have demonstrated the potential presence of wider
mineralisation.
Piche aims to replicate historical drilling results to assist in delivering a JORC-compliant resource estimate at Angelo River.
The Ashburton Project comprises three granted exploration licences covering roughly 122 km2 and is located about 1,150km north of Perth and 350km south–southeast of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region.
Uranium exploration is currently allowed in Western Australia but there is a ban on mining in the state, with just four projects permitted to advance to production.
Australian Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton’s plan to hasten the country’s adoption of nuclear power has reignited the debate around uranium mining.
However, industry watchers see Australia facing an uphill battle to move forward with nuclear power.
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce told Mining.com.au previously that even if parliament was able to remove the nuclear prohibition currently in place at a federal level, there was still the issue of the state-level bans on uranium mining and exploration in the majority of Australian states and territories.
Piche – which owns a portfolio of uranium, gold and base metals projects in Australia and Argentina – will use the cash raised from the IPO to advance its drill-ready exploration targets.
This includes targets at the Ashburton Project and the Sierra Cuadrada uranium and Cerro Chacon gold projects in Argentina.
Longer term, Piche says its goal is to build a significant mining group with separate uranium, gold, and base metal companies under its banner, capitalising on an improving commodity market.
The uranium price hit a record high of US$106 per pound in January this year. It is currently trading over US$86 per pound, gaining back some ground on anticipated stronger demand and risks to supply, according to Trading Economics.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Piche Resources
