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Medallion on the IPO daisMedallion on the IPO dais

by Michael Washbourne

rivate entity ACH Minerals Pty Ltd will be rebranded as – a date which Bennett said was effectively the “line-in-the-sand”
PMedallion Metals Ltd later this quarter in what is shaping moment for ACH in its long-held quest to go public.
as the biggest resources IPO of 2020. ACH was formed in late 2015 by long-time business associates
A little more than four years after acquiring what was the Great Ian Junk, Darren Hedley and Tao Li with the specific objective of
Southern project near Ravensthorpe from Silver Lake Resources acquiring the Great Southern project from a struggling Silver Lake
Ltd for $5 million, ACH is seeking to raise at least $30 million to which at the time was up to its eyeballs in debt. With additional
list on the ASX and begin a proposed two-year journey to first backing from Chinese interests, the company has since spent
gold production. $16 million in the ground at both Ravensthorpe and Jerdacuttup.
Great Southern has since been split into two separate assets – Bennett said the company was sounding out several potential
the Ravensthorpe gold project and the Jerdacuttup polymetallic cornerstone investors for the IPO.
project – with the company focused on developing a standalone Long-serving Northern Star Resources Ltd director John
operation at the former. Fitzgerald will chair Medallion’s new-look board, alongside
Ord Minnett and New Holland Capital have been appointed joint industry veteran Tony James – who handed Bennett his first
advisors of the IPO process. mining job at Telfer back in 1994 – and existing ACH director Ed
A DFS completed earlier this year on Ravensthorpe forecast Ainscough.
average production of 61,000 ozpa – including peak output of With investor appetite for resources stocks on the rise, Bennett
79,000oz in year three – over a minimum 5.5 years. Capex is said the company’s decision to apply for entry to the ASX had
estimated at $85 million with an AISC of $1,203/oz. been vindicated, and an IPO was the best option on the table.
Speaking to GMJ ahead of lodging the official prospectus for “The feedback we consistently got was that an IPO was a faster
Medallion, managing director Paul Bennett was confident the route to the market than a RTO and in all of the scenarios we
funds raised from the upcoming IPO would be enough to underpin considered, we would have always had to re-comply with the
two years of exploration and pre-development activities at the listing process,” he said.
621,000oz project, about 17km south-east of the Ravensthorpe “Once we looked at a few of those options, it became pretty clear
township. that an IPO was a simpler approach and lower risk to our existing
“The objective of the exploration programme is principally to shareholders because they wouldn’t have to deal with residual
extend the known resources along strike and at depth, add to board and shareholder issues that sometimes come with RTOs.
the mine life, optimise the DFS and then consider a development “A trade sale was never really given much consideration, but it
decision,” he said. was always an option. Given the guys [Junk, Hedley and Li] are
“What we don’t want to do is run the cash balance down too low naturally project builders, they’re quite comfortable taking on
at the end of that two-year period. My expectation is that there will that risk and obviously they will be escrowed through this IPO
be a development decision in that two-year horizon and some process.”
new capital will be introduced to the business, perhaps a mix of Bennett said the company was likely to seek out a partner for
equity and debt, to fund project development. But if we don’t get its Jerdacuttup polymetallic project, indicating a group with the
to that point, there will still be funds to progress the increase in requisite technical expertise and balance sheet was needed to
the resources and an increase in the pipeline of pre-resource “push that asset along”.
targets.”
Jerdacuttup includes the 5.6mt Trilogy deposit discovered by
Environmental approval was issued for Ravensthorpe on July 21 Homestake Mining Company in 1997.

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