Lumina Metals Corp. says it’s on its way to becoming the largest producer of copper and silver in the world.
The Canadian company hit the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker LMCU on Thursday after an initial public offering that raised over $406 million and surpassed expectations, according to the CEO, Jordan Pandoff.
“Given the demand we had for this, IPO was over three times what we originally went out with,” he says.
He says the proceeds will fund roughly five years of development work at its flagship Nowa Sól project in southwestern Poland, which contains an estimated nine million tonnes of copper and nearly 900 million ounces of silver.
“We will take that asset through all of the de-risking and ultimately look to get our mining concession by 2030,” Pandoff says.
The company estimates it will require about US$3 billion in additional capital to build two mines at the site. Each mine is expected to produce 150,000 tonnes of copper and 15 million ounces of silver annually, he says.
“Three hundred thousand tonnes. Over 600 million pounds exactly,” Pandoff says, adding that it “would be one of the largest copper mines in the world, and it would be the largest producing silver mine in the world, once in production.”
IPO demand
Pandoff says the company is expecting a lot of interest from global investors and mining companies “that will put Poland front and center on the map as the future of critical minerals production in the European Union (EU).”
Shares fluctuated in morning trading, priced at $12.50 each and traded in a range of $12.35 to $12.60 shortly after listing on the TSX.
The offering also drew support from veteran mining financier Ross Beaty, founder of Lumina Group. Beaty donated 7.5 million of his personal shares to the Sitka Foundation, which sold them in the IPO at $12.50 apiece, generating about $93.75 million for environmental initiatives.
Europe supply security in focus
Pandoff says the project could strengthen Europe’s access to critical minerals at a time when governments are seeking to reduce reliance on imported raw materials.
Poland is Europe’s largest copper producer, accounting for roughly 40 per cent of broader European Union output and producing more than half a million tonnes annually, he says.
“So the EU will not have mineral independence without Poland.”
“And as we’ve seen geopolitically, what’s happening in the Gulf. If you don’t have energy independence, you don’t have any independence,” Pandoff says.
The company also plans to pursue a secondary listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange to broaden its European investor base.
“We want to increase our presence in Warsaw, in Poland, and ultimately have a broader investor base in Europe and in Poland,” Pandoff says.
