West Perth-based Allup Silica is looking to take its four exploration projects to the ASX in March on the back of a $5 million capital raising.
Chair Andrew Haythorpe said the time was right for a listing after growing its silica projects portfolio over the last two years, which includes its Unicup, Antwalker, Argyle and Esperance explorations areas.
Proceeds from the $5 million raise are hoped to get those projects up and running, with drilling, resource work, metallurgical testwork and community and port engagement key items on the agenda.
Despite silica’s abundance, Mr Hayhorpe said it was tricky pinning down project locations with high purity product and good logistical locale.
“Finding high purity silica is not as easy as just finding sand,” Mr Haythorpe said.
“And when you then start talking about logistics and ports and that business side of it you chop out a lot of other potential areas.”
The company’s four projects are at varying stages in the tenement granting process.
Unicup comprises three granted exploration licences, within the Shires of Manjimup and Cranbrook.
Antwalker hosts three exploration licences, comprising two cleared and one pending, also located in the Shire of Manjimup.
The Esperance located namesake project, consists of two granted exploration licences and one pending.
The Argyle project, in the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley, hosts one granted exploration licence and two pending exploration licences.
Mr Haythorpe said all the projects were in reasonable distance to ports, which he noted as a potential competitive advantage for if and when projects come online.
Response to the raise has been encouraging so far, according to Mr Haythorpe, which is being led by St Georges Terrace broker CPS Capital Group.
The firm recently oversaw the $6.5 million relisting of gold and uranium play, Haranga Resources.
Some 25 million shares are on offer at 20 cents apiece as part of the Allup raise.
Official listing on the exchange is penciled for March 15, when Allup hopes to debut in a $16 million market capitalisation trading under the ticker APS.
“Whilst we’re in our infancy as a company, we’ve done a lot in the last two years,” Mr Haythorpe said.
“The best indication is even though we’re a company that only got started two years ago, we are very encouraged by the amount of potential customer interest we’ve had with potential offtakers.
“We’ve grown the company with the four projects and, touch wood, all four of them may prove to be viable sources of silica sands.”
