Aura Minerals makes US listing debut

[Ben Graham]

Aura Minerals (TSX: ORA) (NASDAQ: AUGO) had a mixed US listing debut on Wednesday, with the stock trading within a close range of $23.50 and $24.80 on the NASDAQ, having opened the session at $24.50.

Earlier this month, the Florida-headquartered copper-gold miner announced plans for an initial public offering in the US. Its SEC filing shows that the company was looking to sell 8.1 million shares. On Tuesday, July 15, it priced the IPO at $24.25 a share, for a capital raise of $196 million.

Towards Wednesday’s close, Aura’s stock traded at $23.96 a share, with an estimated market capitalization of $1.8 billion.

Meanwhile, its Toronto-listed shares fell 7.5% lower to about C$32.80, for a C$2.4 billion market capitalization. Despite this drop, the company’s share value in Canada has nearly doubled this year owing to elevated gold prices.

Enhanced liquidity

Apart from diversifying its shareholder base, Aura said the new listing would allow the company to boost the liquidity of its common shares. Exchange data shows that the offering was almost four times oversubscribed.

The company also plans to move its primary listing to the US from the TSX within the next 30 days.

As previously stated, Aura will use the US listing proceeds to advance its Americas-based mining business, including funding its acquisition of Mineração Serra Grande (MSG), holder of the Serra Grande gold mine in Brazil, from AngloGold Ashanti.

That transaction, announced in early June, is expected to close next month, Aura’s CEO Rodrigo Barbosa said in an interview with Bloomberg, adding that the company would not require further funding to complete the deal.

“Our NASDAQ listing aims to enhance liquidity and attract US investors while funding strategic growth. Proceeds will advance key projects like Era Dorada and Matupá, support the acquisition of MSG, and provide financial flexibility for additional capital investments and accretive opportunities,” Barbosa told Mining.com in an emailed statement.

Serra Grande would complement Aura’s existing portfolio of assets in Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Brazil. Last year, the company produced 267,232 oz. of gold equivalent from these operations and is expecting 266,000 to 300,000 oz. this year.

The US public offering comes amid a wave of mining companies looking to secure higher valuations and tap deeper capital markets, leveraging the favourable market environment for gold and critical minerals such as copper.

Also on Wednesday, Botswana-focused copper-nickel developer NexMetals Mining made its NASDAQ debut.