Copper Development Corporation has announced that it is seeking to raise up to $30m through an IPO as part of its admission to AIM in May. The company's principal asset is the Hinoba-an Porphyry Copper Project of which they own 92.5%. The Project was acquired by the company in 2009 and is located on Negros Island, c.700 km south of Manila in the Republic of the Philippines. The town of Hinoba-an is about a three hours drive on the paved coastal highway from Bacolod, the provincial capital of Negros Occidental.
Previous owners of the Project have spent in excess of US$20 million on extensive exploration and metallurgical testwork, including more than 65,000 meters of diamond and reverse circulation drilling. According to the report, prior exploration work and studies indicate that the Hinoba-an Project has approximately 1.6 billion pounds of in situ copper (172 Mt @ grade of 0.42% Cu), which could be mined by open pit method and processed in a 12Mtpa conventional flotation milling operation to recover copper concentrate and other by-products, for annual copper production anticipated at 35kt Cu.
The company said that there are other areas which could provide cost benefits, such as the exploration potential of molybdenum and pyrite or the sequential mining of the two pits - where the first pit mined can be used as either the waste rock dump for the overburden from the second pit or as a tailings dam, which would reduce rehabilitation costs and reduce capital requirements.
The company intend to spend the proceeds of the placing on the completion of a 12 month pre-feasibillity study and 12 month banking feasibility study on the Hinoba-an Project, on the acquisition of complimentary mineral projects and on general working capital. The mine’s life is expected to be 13 years with a current annual production of 35,000 tonnes of copper. The initial capital costs are expected to be in the range of $310 million, with operating costs coming in at $1.50 per lb of copper. The placing price is expected to be at $0.5 per share and raise between $15m and $30m.
The IPO is being handled by the company NOMAD Beaumont Cornish Limited, and broker Fox Davies Capital Limited. The Admission date is expected to be the 7th May 2010 with the company trading under the symbol: CDC.
