Rinehart-backed Brazilian Rare Earths play heads to $315m IPO

afr.com:

Brazilian Rare Earths will list on the ASX with a market capitalisation of some $315 million, with Canaccord Genuity and Petra Capital working to raise $50 million.

The company will hit the bourse on December 18. The listing is by way of 34 million new shares at $1.47. Last year, Street Talk reported that Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and another family office took up a big slice of the pre-IPO round in a raise wrapped by Canaccord.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting took part in the Brazilian Rare Earths’s pre-IPO raise. Janie Barrett

The company has 461 square kilometres of tenements in Brazil, with a maiden JORC resource of 169 million tonnes at 1526 parts per million total rare earth oxides. This, it reckons, translates into multi billion-tonne potential and is comparable to the world’s biggest non-Chinese rare earth clay projects such as Serra Verde.

In fact, BRE’s chief geologist, Alexandre de Rocha, discovered the Serra Verde deposit “and has successfully applied an enhanced exploration model at Brazilian Rare Earths,” according to a term sheet sent to potential investors.

IPO proceeds have been earmarked for an accelerated exploration program, but will also go towards funding the acquisition and project costs of around 57,000 metres of Rio Tinto drilling core/samples that will be assayed for their rare earth element.

“With the Rio Tinto acquisition, Brazilian Rare Earths will have drilling data covering circa 30 per cent of the total licence area,” the term sheet said.

At the time of the pre-IPO round, the company’s advisors told prospective investors it was expected to list early in 2023 via a $20 million to $30 million IPO.

Of note, the Bernardo da Veiga-run company has secured Todd Hannigan as chairman.