Hamelin lists after $10m raising

Encounter Resources’ gold spinout had a soft start to its first day of trading, with shares closing down 10 per cent on its offer price.

Hamelin Gold, which is the spinout of Encounter’s West Tanami project in the Kimberley, raised $10 million through an initial public offering before listing on the ASX this afternoon.

The IPO was priced at 20 cents a share and led by Euroz Hartleys.

Hamelin’s shares closed at 18 cents this afternoon, implying a market capitalisation of $19.8 million.

Miners Gold Fields and Silver Lake Resources emerged as Hamelin’s biggest shareholders, each with a 10 per cent stake in the Subiaco-based explorer.

Its board includes non-executive chair Will Robinson, executive director Peter Bewick, and non-executive directors Justin Osborne and Philip Crutchfield.

The proceeds from the IPO will be used to explore West Tanami.

In Hamelin’s prospectus, Mr Robinson said large areas within the 2,277 square kilometre tenement package remained untested and underexplored.

He noted, however, West Tanami contained numerous prospects with: "Open, high-grade gold intersections under shallow cover, significant kilometre scale underexplored geochemical anomalies and a suite of untested geophysical targets with supporting geochemistry.”

Mr Robinson is the managing director of Encounter Resources, having served in the role for more than 17 years. He is also a non-executive director of West Perth-based Hampton Hill Mining and the former president of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC).

Plans for the demerger were announced in July, with Encounter having said that a standalone gold-focused entity would attract greater investment.

Encounter will instead focus on developing its portfolio of copper projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, which include farm-in agreements with IGO and BHP.