London Stock Exchange welcomes First Development Resources Plc to AIM
The London Stock Exchange today welcomed First Development Resources Plc (AIM: FDR), a UK based, Australian focused exploration company with mineral interest in three prospective copper-gold projects located in Western Australia and one rare-earth element, uranium, lithium and gold project located in Australia’s Northern Territory.
FDR is delighted to be opening the Market at the London Stock Exchange on its first day of trading on AIM following its successful IPO. FDR’s advisory team led by Beaumont Cornish and supported by Druces LLP, Hill Dickinson LLP, One Advisory, PKF Littlejohn, Mining Access Legal and SRK Consulting produced the documentation to support the listing and; with the help of its broking group led by SI Capital with support from First Equity and Peterhouse Capital the Company has raised £2,300,000 giving FDR a market capitalisation on Admission of approximately £7.0 million. The net proceeds from the IPO will be used to develop the Company’s portfolio of exploration assets in Australia.
FDR expects to commence exploration activities at its flagship Wallal copper-gold project in Western Australia’s Paterson Province immediately post-Admission. The Paterson is widely regarded as one of the most prospective regions in Australia for the discovery of world-class gold-copper deposits and is home to several world-class mines and more recent discoveries. The Phase I diamond drilling campaign which is expected to commence in the coming weeks, has been designed to test one of three magnetic bullseye anomalies identified within the Wallal licence area. The primary focus for the drilling is the Eastern magnetic anomaly, the Eastern anomaly is interpreted by FDR to have a similar magnetic signature to Greatland Resources’ Havieron copper-gold discovery which is located approximately 270 km to the southeast of the Wallal project area. The Wallal project is also interpreted by FDR to share similarities to Rio Tinto’s nearby copper-gold discovery at Winu.
In the Northern Territory the Company’s 100% owned Selta Project is located in an area considered prospective for uranium and rare -earth elements along with lithium and gold. The Northern Territory has a long history of uranium mining and hosts some of Australia’s best known and high-grade uranium and REE deposits. The underlying geology within the Selta Project is interpreted to be comparable to that at Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed Arafura Rare Earths Limited’s Nolans Project deposit. FDR has also identified the potential for pegmatite hosted lithium mineralisation within the Project area. Lithium-bearing spodumene minerals have been identified in pegmatites at an adjacent exploration project called Reynolds Range, owned by ASX listed iTECH Minerals Ltd. FDR considers lithium, rare earth elements and uranium to be important for near-future applications and industries driven by global efforts to decarbonise. FDR has identified 9 prospective targets at Selta and expects field teams to commence first-pass exploration later this year.
“First Development Resources’ admission to AIM comes at a time when the world needs more critical, precious-and base-metals. This presents an exciting opportunity for a company such as ours with ownership of four diverse exploration and development assets located within one of the world’s most attractive mining jurisdictions. We believe FDR represents significant potential and are eager to accelerate both exploration and corporate development activities immediately following our listing.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the entire FDR team and our pre-IPO investors for their patience and support as we navigated the detailed exploration and corporate steps that brought us to this point. Their commitment has been instrumental in positioning the Company for future growth and value creation.”
Tristan Pottas
CEO
“We are delighted to have secured FDR’s Admission to AIM. The IPO process has highlighted the commitment of all those involved, and we are grateful for the support we have received from the investment community. Securing FDR’s listing means the Company can turn attention to the operational side of the business and the rapid deployment of capital into our exploration projects. We are excited to commence drilling operations at our Wallal Project in the coming weeks, and we look forward to providing updates to the market as the Phase I diamond drilling programme gets underway. With so much exploration and corporate activity currently underway in the Paterson and across the Northern Territory, we believe there has never been a better time for FDR to commence exploration, and we can’t wait to get started.”
Mike Moore
Chairman
