Aura Energy successfully lists on AIM

Aura Energy advised on Monday that it has successfully gained admission to the London Stock Exchange AIM market.

The ASX and now AIM-traded firm is a uranium development company with gold, soda ash and lithium exploration projects in Africa and Europe.

As part of the AIM listing the company has raised £2.24m before expenses by way of a placing of 196,883,849 new ordinary shares at £0.0114 per share giving it a market capitalisation of £7.45m on admission.

In conjunction with the AIM placement, Aura confirmed it has executed subscription agreements with “sophisticated” Australian investors, to raise a further £0.467m at £0.012 per share.

It said it anticipated the Australian subscriptions will be completed on or around 16 September, with the company confident of this completion although it could not be guaranteed.

“This is an outstanding outcome for Aura Energy and we have always believed that, given our European and African focus, dual listing on AIM was both an attractive option for Aura and a natural marketplace for us,” said executive chairman Peter Reeve.

“This is a transformational period for Aura, and as only the second quoted uranium company on AIM, we believe the company will generate significant traction for our shareholders as we progress our strategy of phased development and low capital cost projects to allow early cash flow generation particularly from the Tiris Uranium Project.”

Reeve said the success of the dual listing process is a “vindication” of Aura’s uranium assets in Mauritania and Sweden and its gold, soda ash and lithium tenements in Mauritania.

“This package of development and exploration assets has gained broad market appeal with investors and has been the subject of a full technical review by an independent competent person.

“In addition Aura received exceptionally strong support from existing and new shareholders for its recent Mauritanian gold transaction where it has secured a vast underexplored tract of greenstone belt just south of the 21 million ounce Tasiast Gold Mine owned by Kinross Gold Corporation.”

Reeve commented that the separate application for lithium and soda ash permits in Mauritania was also well received.

“We believe this now well-funded phase positions Aura ideally over the coming years as we build ourselves into a leading uranium developer, advancing our projects towards high-margin, profitable production in the near to medium term.

“We believe there is a substantial uranium market opportunity ahead of us as there has been little new investment into the uranium sector, despite the world’s energy needs growing exponentially,” he explained.

“We believe the resultant supply deficit in nuclear energy will be significant. Nuclear power is a growing industry as it is low-carbon, reliable and long-lasting energy supply and acts as base load capacity.

“There are currently an increasing number of nuclear reactors being built and coming back on line globally, China, for example, is expected to double its nuclear generation capability by 2020.”

Reeve said the company expects substantial increases in pricing by the end of the decade to coincide with the first production from Tiris.