Ivernia considers Alternative Market listing to boost liquidity of shares

MINING company Ivernia West is considering a listing on London’s Alternative Investment Market in a bid to boost the liquidity of its shares and improve its appeal to shareholders.

The company, which left the Irish stock exchange in favour of a move to Toronto, said yesterday it would keep the question of a London listing under review after completing a major financial restructuring programme last year.

Ivernia’s 2,000 Irish shareholders consist mainly of retail investors, who control almost 10% of the company.

The company’s Irish connections stem from its interest in the Lisheen mine in Tipperary, which was disposed of last year to international mining giant Anglo American. Chief executive Alan De’ath said the company looked forward to “promising times” in the future and Ivernia had refocused its strategy to concentrate on its 51% interest in a lead mine in Western Australia.

Mr De’ath said the markets had responded favourably to Ivernia since it exited Lisheen and the share price had increased from C$0.02 to C$0.25 last year. He described Lisheen as a “millstone” that hindered the company’s development with a significant debt burden and little prospect of sufficiently strong cashflows to deliver a return to shareholders. Ivernia’s sale of its Lisheen interest resulted in Anglo American assuming Ivernia’s debt of over US$73 million.

The company subsequently raised equity to fund the development of its Magellan prospect in Australia, which was expected to produce high-quality lead at relatively low cost.

Mr De’ath said the world lead market had been depressed for some time but prices had begun to recover in line with greater demand. The lead price would benefit over the next three to five years from increasing demand for car batteries, especially in China, according to Mr De’ath.

Car batteries account for three-quarters of world lead sales. Mr De’ath also said the Magellan project would generate sufficient cashflows to enable Ivernia to look at other sites.

This would facilitate the company’s medium-term growth, which would come from buying existing mining operations or exploiting previously undeveloped sites.