IPO Watch: Ballymore Resources joins the ASX boards with a bang as shares surge more than 100%

Ballymore Resources (ASX:BMR) made its ASX debut this morning, and became the latest resources newcomer to get a warm reception from ASX investors.

BMR joined the boards after raising $7m from investors at 20c per share. The stock opened above 30c before ripping higher to more than 40c, giving pre-IPO investors a day-one gain of more than 100%.

The funds raised will support BMR’s exploration efforts at a portfolio of gold and base metals projects that it holds in Queensland.

The projects include Dittmer (a historic high-grade goldfield), Ruddygore (a large copper porphyry target) and Ravenswood (a bunch of drill-ready targets in a 17moz gold province).

Ballymore Resources is chaired by industry veteran Nick Jorss, who ran Stanmore Coal as a fledgling microcap before it was snapped up in a $256m takeover.

Ballymore Resources – exploration breakdown

Of the $7m in funding, more than $5m will be allocated to development and exploration activities across BMR’s project portfolio, according to the company prospectus.

BMR will commence reverse circulation drilling programs at Dittmer (near Mackay) and Ravenswood (near Townsville).

Further north at Ruddygore, it will conduct “geochemical and geophysical surveys to better define specific drill targets for the large copper-gold porphyry target”, the company said.

Drill plans will include an “underground diamond drilling program to test for high-grade gold/copper mineralisation extensions” at the historic Dittmer mine.

Dittmer was first discovered in 1934 and produced “a total of 54,500oz of gold at an average grade of 151 g/t”, along with copper and silver, Jorss said.

“The Dittmer Project also contains numerous other high-grade lodes mined to shallow depths, which Ballymore intends to thoroughly test using modern exploration methods,” he added.

BMR will also commence a reverse circulation drill program at Ravenswood, to “follow up a historic hole which reported 4m of gold @ 301 g/t from 28m”, the company said.

The company’s Ravenswood project is situated in a historic 17 million-ounce gold province, and has shown “geological similarities” to two existing mines in the region which produce between 3.8moz and 5.8moz per year,” Jorss said.

Its Ruddygore project was mined back in the early 1900’s but targets at the site have not been explored since then.

BMR plans to explore multiple zones at the site including a copper-silver porphyry target, a lead-zinc-copper-gold-silver skarn deposit, and Torpy’s mine — a sediment hosted silver-lead-zinc deposit.

“These deposits sit within an extensive mineralised corridor containing the nearby Red Dome and Mungana mines, with a combined pre-mine inventory of 3.2 million ounces of gold,” Jorss said.