Cape Lambert Resources has deferred listing its Marampa iron ore project on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) until later this year, citing the volatile nature of world capital markets.
Cape Lambert, which is chaired by Tony Sage, holds interests in several resources projects in Australia, Africa and South America including iron ore, gold, copper and uranium.
The Marampa iron ore project in Sierra Leone is expected to cost $458 million to develop, with the company saying the second stage could require a further $1 billion of capital investment.
In a notice to the Australian Securities Exchange, Cape Lambert said the Maramapa listing on AIM would not occur until at least September 2012, after the London Olympics and end of summer holidays in the northern hemisphere.
The miner also said that "during this deferral period the company will continue to respond to interest from third parties" relating to a possible asset sale of Marampa.
The capital raising is expected to allow Cape Lambert to sell down a 25 per stake in the project, which is expected to produce two million tonnes a year initially, expanding to 10 million tonnes a year by 2016.
Cape Lambert last traded at 44.5 cents before it was supended from trading on May 18.
Meanwhile, the company will continue its discussions with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) over a disputed tax assessment, saying it will strongly contest all the amounts assessed.
Cape Lambert went into a trading halt earlier this month over a $95 million bill from the ATO, mostly over the sale of its namesake iron ore project in 2008 and purchase of the CopperCo group of assets in 2009.
The company said its tax and legal advisers had met an assistant commissioner from the ATO on May 29 to determine a path to resolve the dispute.
"Cape Lambert has previously stated its intention to resolve the issues arising from the amended assessment and to engage co-operatively and commercially with the ATO to that end," executive chairman Tony Sage said in a statement.
