Talvivaara nickel mine looks to listing on main market of London Stock Exchange

Nordic stock exchanges provide inadequate investor base for large-scale mining operations

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Talvivaara Mining Company Ltd, the deposits of which are situated in Sotkamo in the eastern province of Kainuu, is seeking listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Through the listing of its ordinary shares in late May or early June, the company plans to increase its capital stock by EUR 200-300 million.
      Talvivaara was initially meant to start its stock exchange phase from the growth companies list. "This alternative, however, quickly proved unsuitable for the firm’s needs", Talvivaara managing director Pekka Perä explains.
      On the main list the investor base is likely to become wider. In an issue of shares on the growth company list, the firm would have accumulated less than a hundred million euros.
      "This is the perfect time to list with the stock exchange, as on Monday we just completed negotiations for a EUR 240 million project loan", Perä states.
      "The LSE was chosen because there are investors of this field there. On the Helsinki Stock Exchange there are no mining companies listed, and even in Stockholm only a few."
     
Money is needed, for the cost of setting up the mining operations has been estimated at EUR 500 million. After the issue of shares and the secured loan, the company will have accumulated capital in excess of EUR 600 million.
      Managing director Perä and his family own 54 per cent of Talvivaara’s current capital stock. "We’ll lose the majority in the firm, but this is unavoidable when collecting such vast sums of money."
     
Sotkamo’s Talvivaara is one of the richest sulphide nickel deposits in Europe, with 266 million tons of ore in measured and indicated categories.
      The start of production is scheduled for the end of 2008. The company estimates it could produce 33,000 tons of nickel per year. With the current world market price this translates to annual turnover of just under EUR 1.3 billion. The price of nickel has soared in the past year, rising from around USD 15,000/ton to close to USD 50,000/ton.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Foreign companies eagerly prospecting for uranium in Finland (16.11.2006)
  Europe´s largest gold mine to be opened in Finnish Lapland (6.6.2006)

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