The head of copper producer Austral Resources (AR1) says the performance of the share price since reinstatement on the Australian Stock Exchange is within expectations.
Austral came back onto the ASX earlier this month at $0.05/share after a $40 million capital raise.
The performance needed to be seen in the light of the recent volatile metals market, Austral Resources chair David Newling said.
“Certainly, demand remains elevated and certainly future forecasts of demand remain strong,” he said. “
“From a supply side we’ve seen some issues with overseas supply, so mines like Grasberg for example will remain offline for an extended period of time.
“In relation to the share price performance of AR1 since re-quoting, it is very much in accordance with where we thought we would be. There are some shareholders that have elected to sell out given they haven’t been able to do so for a long period of time.”
The company was leaner and more energised since it’s reinstatement to trade, Mr Newling said.
“Obviously we were re-quoted in the last couple of weeks but before then we looked at revitalised board and management structure. It is certainly a flatter structure than we were in the past,” he said.
“A resetting of the strategy to certainly focus on what we call the pillars – that is the two significant infrastructure assets that underpin the company these days, and then building out the resource base to feed those assets.
“I think it’s a much cleaner, simpler strategy that seems to resonate with investors at large.”
Here comes Eva
As near neighbours of South African gold miner Harmony in North West Queensland, Austral welcomed the commitment to the Eva project, Mr Newling said.
The announcement was a positive for the whole region, he said.
“We’re a big advocate of the North West Minerals Province and certainly we believe that the prospects for copper exploration and production in the future are strong, and that sort of solidifies our recent Rocklands acquisition down in Cloncurry.”
The Eva project is located north of the Rocklands operation and east of the Lady Annie lease both owned by Austral Resources.