Expose Resources execs have tough time raising funds for IPO

Brisbane-based junior gold miner Expose Resources has hit a snag with its plans to raise $4.5 million and list on the ASX.

FEELING EXPOSED

These are tough days for companies aiming to IPO. Just ask the blokes at newly-formed Expose Resources.

The Brisbane-based junior gold miner had originally set last Friday as the closing date for investors to pile in to their float, which aims to raise up to $4.5 million without underwriters.

But managing director Geoff Checketts told City Beat yesterday that the deadline has been pushed back to an unspecified date, hopefully some time later this month.

The reason? The firm is still shy of raising a minimum $4 million at 20 cents per share, although he declined to say how far off the mark they remain.

“The market has worked against us and applications are a little bit slower than we expected,’’ Checketts said on the phone from New Zealand.

He also noted that a crowded IPO market, less than spectacular results for newly-trading companies and a bit of volatility on Wall Street in the past few weeks certainly haven’t helped.

Geoff Checketts, managing director of Expose Resources.

The sluggishness faced by Expose comes despite Checketts and his top lieutenants wrapping up what they perceived as a well-regarded road show recently across Australia.

Although the company was only created in February and has no financial track record, the top guns have plenty of skin in the game and a long history of creating value in the resources game.

They hope to use that experience to start drilling as soon as possible at two very promising spots in WA and Tasmania.

Among those joining Checketts on the all-white-male board is chairman Adrian Fleming, a geologist with 40 years of experience in mining around the world, and Andrew Matheson, a former top lieutenant of late resources magnate Ken Talbot.

If they eventually get the float over the line, Expose will have a market cap of up to $8.8 million.

ROUGH GOING

As noted earlier, market sentiment is making it rough going right now for those looking to float.

Just 109 companies have launched IPOs this year, down from 142 in 2017 and 133 in 2016.

For many of those already trading, the outlook is grim. About two-thirds of the newest entrants on the ASX have seen their share price fall below the issue price.

Keenly aware of this rather chilling reality, plenty of outfits hoping to raise dough have simply ditched or delayed their plans to go public.

Among them are Centaur Resources, a Brisbane-based junior explorer hoping to surf the global craze for lithium, a key component in batteries.

Centaur has scrapped plans to raise up to $15 million to pursue lithium mining opportunities in Argentinian salt lakes.

Boss Brian Clifford didn’t return a call seeking comment yesterday but a bit of scandalous chatter after the ill-fated float was announced in September sure didn’t help.

It emerged that Centaur had been founded by a former MasterChef contestant who was sued in 2014 for allegedly misappropriating $7 million from a British resources company he launched.

He denied the allegations and the legal battle was eventually settled in a confidential deal.

INVESTORS REBEL

Still on struggling resources minnows in Brisbane, there was an investor revolt at yesterday’s AGM for Metallica Minerals.

Shareholders overwhelmingly rejected the remuneration report, with 55 per cent of votes cast opposed to the non-binding resolution. That created a “first strike’’ and, if a second occurs next year, there will be a mandatory board spill.

Rebel investors, already unhappy with a proposed merger with Canadian miner Melior Resources and hoping to sack the entire board, have previously described the near $615,000 salary package for boss Simon Slesarewich as unsustainable.

A company spin doctor later attacked these critics, who he said “agitated for a vote against the resolution on misleading grounds”.