In a major boost for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s efforts to attract international companies for a secondary listing on the bourse, shares in Australia’s Southern Palladium Limited (Southern Palladium) began trading today.
“This listing coincides perfectly with the strong appetite in the market for commodities,” Valdene Reddy, Director of Capital Markets at the JSE.
“It is encouraging that through the JSE, Southern Palladium in collaboration with the Bengwenyama community has raised capital to explore for minerals such as palladium, rhodium, platinum and iridium that support the green economy while creating much-needed jobs in the process,” Reddy added.
Southern Palladium’s JSE debut comes after the Australia-headquartered company acquired a 70% stake in a South African private company, Miracle Upon Miracle Investments (Pty) Ltd (MUM). Southern Palladium has a primary listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and a secondary listing on the JSE.
“Southern Palladium offers investors an opportunity to participate in one of the last large, undeveloped Platinum Group Metal deposits on the prolific Eastern Limb of the Bushveld Complex. The flagship project presents relatively low capital intensity at shallow development depths, at a time when a future Green Economy has sparked a significant renewed interest in platinum,” says Johan Odendaal, Managing Director at Southern Palladium.
MUM holds 100% of a prospecting right, which permits it to explore for a wide range of minerals such as Platinum-Group metals, gold, nickel, copper and chrome.
Under the South African mining legislation, a prospecting right entitles the holder to an exclusive right to prospect for prescribed minerals over a prescribed area of land.
Southern Palladium successfully completed a A$19m (R212m) capital raise to finance its exploration programme in Limpopo’s Bushveld Complex
Southern Palladium has floated 89.75 million ordinary shares of which 39.63 million will move onto the SA register, and is trading on the Main Board under the JSE code SDL.
The listing of Southern Palladium brings the number of listed companies on the JSE to 313 with an overall market capitalisation of over R20.76 trillion.
