Australia’s Southern Palladium began trading on the JSE on Wednesday in what the bourse is punting as a vote of confidence amid a flood of delistings in recent years.
The secondary listing of Southern Palladium on the JSE comes after the Australian mining firm acquired a 70% stake in privately held SA-based firm, Miracle Upon Miracle Investments (MUM). Southern Palladium has a primary listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
“This listing coincides perfectly with the strong appetite in the market for commodities,” said Valdene Reddy, director of capital markets at the JSE. “It is encouraging that through the JSE, Southern Palladium in collaboration with the Bengwenyama community has raised capital to explore for minerals such as palladium, rhodium, platinum and iridium, which support the green economy while creating much-needed jobs in the process.”
Southern Palladium successfully completed a A$19m (R212m) capital raise to finance its exploration programme in Limpopo’s Bushveld Complex where MUM holds 100% of a prospecting right, which permits it to explore for a wide range of minerals including platinum group metals (PGMs), gold, nickel, copper and chrome.
Under SA mining legislation, a prospecting right entitles the holder to an exclusive right to prospect for prescribed minerals over a prescribed area of land.
“Southern Palladium offers investors an opportunity to participate in one of the last large, undeveloped PGM deposits on the prolific eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex,” said Johan Odendaal, MD of Southern Palladium.
“The flagship project presents relatively low capital intensity at shallow development depths, at a time when a future Green Economy has sparked a significant renewed interest in platinum.”
Southern Palladium has floated 89.75-million ordinary shares of which 39.63-million will move onto the SA register, and is trading on the main board under the JSE code SDL. The listing of Southern Palladium brings the number of listed companies on the JSE to 313 with an overall market capitalisation of more than R20.76-trillion.
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