Listing on the ASX today with an underexplored but historically producing copper-gold project on its books in a flagship copper region, the Locksley Resources value proposition is attractive.

That’s the opinion of Barclay Pearce Capital director – Corporate Finance Tim Wilson, who’s firm acted as lead manager on Locksley’s (ASX:LKY) heavily oversubscribed $5 million IPO capital raise.

It’s clearly also the opinion of those who scrambled for their piece of the IPO, and it should come as little surprise to those with knowledge of the copper game.

A Forbes article earlier this year declared the red metal to be a competitor for the title of the ‘New Oil’ – a demand proposition driven by the global transition to renewable energy.

Everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to solar panels need the commodity, with a lack of clear substitutes driving long-term forecasts high.

It’s demand that isn’t expected to disappear any time soon.

“A lot of industries are relying on copper, not least of all the electric vehicle market,” Wilson said.

It’s not just the fortunes of the red metal driving interest in LKY’s listing. The company is sitting on one hell of a copper proposition in the world-class Lachlan Fold Belt region.

The 470km2 Tottenham project is a largely underexplored historic site, which includes a 30km strike length of volcanic hosted massive sulphide copper corridor.

The Royal mine at the Tottenham project, circa 1918. Pic: Supplied.

The company has set an exploration target at the Carolina and Mount Royal deposits of 7.4 million tonnes at 1.2% and 0.4 grams per tonne gold, for 90,600 contained gold ounces and 86,100 tonnes of contained copper.

Early priorities include upgrading the project resource to JORC 2012 standards and extending it with immediate exploration.

A number of other historic prospects have been drilled and require further testing, including Bogan River, Underlay and Burdenda.

Magnetic image and interpreted horizons at the Tottenham project. Pic: Supplied

Early signs positive

A serious vote of confidence for investors is the deal struck by Locksley for the Tottenham project with previous holders Mincor Resources (ASX:MCR) and Bacchus Resources Pty Ltd.

The transaction was all scrip, a positive sign to the market of the potential seen by its previous owners, according to Wilson.

“The fact the vendors, in Mincor – who are a very large WA-based nickel producer – are not divesting is a big plus,” he said.

“They’re actually the largest shareholder in the company, and they wanted to divest the project because they recognise it’s not their core business but they’re more than happy to be part of the Locksley journey.”

In doing so, the project’s past owners have given the keys to an experienced management team, helmed by Lachlan Fold veteran Steve Woodham alongside non-executive chair Adam Giles and non-executive director Steve Brockhurst.

“Steve in particular has 30+ years’ experience in the Lachlan Fold Belt specifically, exploring, developing and producing copper-gold in the region,” Wilson said.

With cash in the bank and listing now complete, all eyes will be on the exploration results to come of Locksley’s work at Tottenham.