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Fledgling Otago gold exploration company Ophir Gold is considering a stock exchange listing by the end of the year and wants to raise up to $2 million in private equity before then.
Ophir Gold holds a five-year exploration permit covering a 650ha tenement near Omakau, northeast of Alexandra, and has already done test drilling programmes that have boosted earlier estimates.
In a recent board reshuffle, founding directors John Scott and Central Otago miner Bob Kilgour stood down from the board, retaining their respective shareholdings, and were replaced by Ray Polson, of Dunedin accountancy firm Polson Higgs, and Alistair Ward, of investment bank Campbell McPherson in Auckland.
Ward said it was not decided yet if Ophir Gold would launch an initial public offering of shares to raise capital when it listed later in the year. "We will be looking to raise up to $2 million from professional investors. An IPO is uncertain at present and we may list another way," he said yesterday.
In November, Ophir Gold increased its estimated gold resource more than eightfold and signed up a contractor for drill programmes covering three years of exploration.
In September, it said it had raised $700,000 from private investors for its testing programme, having spent $300,000-$400,000 on earlier testing. The next drilling programme is scheduled for between July and September.
- Otago Daily Times
