Mayur Resources is a step closer to bringing one of Asia’s biggest industrial and mineral sands provinces into production after raising $15.5 million in an oversubscribed initial public offering.

The Brisbane-based, Papua New Guinea-focused explorer (ASX:MRL), which begins trading on the ASX from Thursday, sold 38.8 million shares at 40c each.

The funds will go towards a feasibility study for its Orokolo Bay industrial sands project and construction of a trial pilot plant at the site for exports to Asia.

Orokolo Bay, which lies along the southern coast of PNG, has a resource of 6 Mt of industrial construction sand; 6.6 Mt magnetite at 57 per cent iron and 107,000 tonnes of zircon.

Mayur will also put the funds towards commercialisation of the Port Moresby limestone project and for industrial and mineral sands, coal, copper and gold exploration.

It is also seeking to secure a power purchase agreement for the Lae power project for 52.5 megawatts and continue to work towards a power plant with a rating of about 200 megawatts.

The company is also seeking new joint venture exploration and development opportunities for the highly prospective Feni and Sitipu copper and gold tenements.

Mayur chairman Rob Neale said the float provided the company with a solid funding base and a strong share register.

“This is an important step in the corporate development of Mayur Resources, providing the structure and access to capital with which to bring our exciting projects into production and generate returns for our shareholders,” he said.

Mayur has been operating since 2011 with the purpose of acquiring, exploring and developing mineral and energy development opportunities in Papua New Guinea and neighbouring countries.

Mayur’s main focus is the highly prospective industrial and mineral sands province in southern PNG where it holds over 12,000 kilometres of tenement along the southern coastline and delta regions of the Gulf of Papua.

The company believes there is significant potential for multiple products, short term routes to market and significant scalability to expand future low-cost operations.