While there has been a significant increase in the number of mining companies making their way onto the ASX, there are still a number of players facing hurdles.

Copper and zinc explorer Tartana Resources’ $6 million initial public offer has been placed on hold while it addresses concerns raised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The company, which was previously a coal explorer, had a goal of listing on the ASX by the end of May.

Tartana owns a copper and zinc project in northern Queensland (also called Tartana) and a zinc slag project in western Tasmania called Zeehan.

Meanwhile, potash explorer Trigg Mining has shelved its IPO due to the “recent weakness in equity markets”.

“While it is disappointing to need to defer the IPO and ASX listing at this time, our belief in the fundamental value and the potential of the company’s projects has not changed,” managing director Keren Paterson said.

In the meantime, the company will continue to progress its sulphate of potash exploration projects at Laverton Links and Lake Throssell near Laverton in the Western Australian Goldfields.

Copper-gold explorer Corona Resources has also cancelled its $6 million IPO after it was unable to meet its minimum subscription requirement.

Here’s a list of recent, upcoming and postponed ASX resources floats. (Swipe or scroll to reveal full table):

Company ASX code Status % return on IPO price Price Jun 1 Issue price Market Cap Focus Fund raising
Adriatic Metals ADT Listed May 1 -0.075 0.185 0.2 24.85M Zinc $10m
Awati Resources AWA Not yet listed Gold $4.5m
Bounty Mining B2Y Offer close, due to list in June Coking Coal $18m
Constellation Resources CR1 Offer open to Jul 5 Nickel, copper, gold $7m
Copper Mountain Mining C6C Listed Apr 6 N/A 1.07 152.25M Copper, gold, silver N/A
Corona Resources CNA Not yet listed Copper, gold $6m
Galileo Mining GAL Listed May 29 0.725 0.345 0.2 37.32M Cobalt, nickel $15m
Jupiter Mines JMS Listed April 19 -0.0625 0.375 0.4 681.92M Manganese $240m
Kingswest Resources Due to list in July Gold $5m
Koppar Resources KRX Listed May 30 0.35 0.27 0.2 8.10M Copper, zinc $4.5m
Mako Gold MKG Listed April 16 -0.025 0.195 0.2 12.02M Gold $6m
METALQ479 Postponed Silver $7m
Rafaella Resources RFR Not yet listed; was due in April Cobalt, copper, gold $5m
Tao Commodities TAO Listed April 16 0 0.2 0.2 4.75M Zinc, gold $4.8m
Tartana Resources IPO suspended Zinc, copper $6m
Trigg Mining TMG Postponed Potash $4m
GeoCrystal Postponed Diamonds $7m
Saturn Metals STN Listed Mar 9 -0.05 0.19 0.2 10.36M Gold $7m
Andes Resources Planning IPO later this year Gold $3-5m
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Newly minted

In the past three months there have been eight successful IPOs that have led to a listing on the ASX.

The most recent was Koppar Resources (ASX:KRX), which made its debut last Wednesday and traded at a 60 per cent premium to its 20c IPO price.

Koppar was formed in February this year to acquire Koppar Resources Europe, which owns nine copper and zinc tenements in the Trøndelag region of Norway.

The company raised $4.5 million in an oversubscribed IPO to fund exploration of the Løkken, Killingdal, Storwatz, Tverrfjellet, Nygruva, and Grimsdal projects.

A day before Koppar listed, Mark Creasy-backed Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL) lit up the boards, hitting a peak price of 38c – nearly double its issue price.

Galileo raised $15 million selling shares at 20c apiece in an initial public offer to fund development of cobalt and nickel projects in Western Australia.

One of the most talked about IPOs of this year was the $240 million float of Jupiter Mines (ASX:JMS), a manganese producer chaired by former BHP boss Brian Gilbertson.

The April 19 debut, however, didn’t really live up to the hype, with shares trading between 36.2c and 41c on their first day — compared to a 40c issue price.

It’s the largest mining IPO since Aston Resources listed on the ASX following a $400 million raising in 2010.

Hedley Widdup, a fund manager for investment firm Lion Selection Group, said deals of this magnitude are usually done at the top of the cycle.

But he doesn’t believe the resources sector is close to its peak just yet.

“You don’t get these deals very often,” he told a gathering of investors last week.

“Generally, they are towards the top of market, but I don’t see that as an indicator of that at all. What I see is there was a pool of liquidity and they managed to scoop it up.”

Another big mining IPO looks to be in the works with Nickel Mines said to be eying an over $100 million raising ahead of an ASX listing.

“Incidentally we see another company headed by Norm Seckold, who has been a very successful mining investor in the past, preparing for a plus-$100 million IPO with an Indonesian asset,” Mr Widdup noted.

“I can see the risk appetite loosening here.”

Missed the deadline

However, there are still a handful of resources players that have not made their target deadline for joining the ASX.

Cobalt explorer Rafaella Resources was due to list in April, while Awati Resources was targeting a mid-May listing.

Meanwhile, coking coal explorer Bounty Mining is aiming for a June listing, while Constellation Resources and gold play Kingwest Resources want to hit the bourse in July.

Constellation Resources is being spun out of Apollo Minerals (ASX:AON) and is advancing the Orpheus nickel, copper and gold project in the Fraser Range of Western Australia.

Colombian gold hunter Andes Resources is also mulling an ASX listing and plans to launch an IPO after it receives next lot of drilling results, which it expects to have in hand by mid-year.

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