Australian Exploration Firm Lists On JSE

10 Nov 2011

Australian minerals exploration and development company Ferrum Crescent, which has sole operations in South Africa's Limpopo province, has secured a secondary listing on the JSE's main board.

The JSE has granted the company a secondary listing on its entire issued ordinary share capital under the share code "FCR", with trading to commence on Friday, 11 November 2011. It has a primary listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investments Market (AIM).

According to a statement by the company this week, the listing will "enhance South African investor and general public awareness of the group and its activities, thereby enlarging Ferrum Crescent's investor base and increasing trade in its shares".

A local listing also means that South Africans residents can directly invest in the company.

The company, in its current form, was created in December 2009 by the merger between Washington Resources and Ferrum Metals. In November 2010, the company disposed of its Australian interests and the group's focus is now on developing its iron ore interests in South Africa.

As such, the listing will provide the company with an additional source of raising funding, as well as giving it the flexibility to take advantage of potential South African and African acquisition opportunities.

Limpopo prospecting rights

The company has a controlling interest in Turquoise Moon Trading, a South African company, which holds the prospecting rights over two separate areas of iron ore mineralisation in South Africa; these being the Moonlight deposit and the De Loskop prospect in the Limpopo Province.

The company owns an effective 81.4% of the Moonlight iron ore project, through its direct 74% interest in Turquoise Moon and its 28.46% interest in Mkhombi Investments, the company's black economic empowerment (BEE) partner.

As part of the listing it is envisaged that the BEE participation in the company will be restructured, whereby its empowerment partner will be able to exchange its participation at the project level for new ordinary shares in the listed company.

South Africa is the seventh largest producer of iron ore in the world. Kumba Iron Ore, which owns iron ore mines in Sishen and Thabazimbi, Is the largest producer of iron ore in Africa.