Argent Minerals records promising debut

Argent Minerals has closed 15% higher following its first day of trading, the silver...

  Argent Minerals has closed 15% higher following its first day of trading, the silver-focused explorer, listing at $0.20 yesterday morning, rose to $0.23 by market close.Argent’s Executive Chairman, Kerry McHugh said: “It can be difficult to have a successful listing in the current market, and we believe this good result is a testament to the advanced state of our exploration tenements, which contain JORC resources, and the rekindled investor interest in silver.” Argent listed yesterday after successfully raising $4m in an IPO to fund an advanced exploration program for its tenements in the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. The company will immediately start an advanced exploration program as part of its Farm-in and Joint Venture agreements with Golden Cross Operations, involving an estimated expenditure of $2.7m over the first 18 months. “The exploration program will include advancing Argent’s Kempfield silver-lead-zinc-barite project that has JORC defined resources of over 11 million ounces of silver (3.7 million tonnes at 93 g/t), of which 74% are measured or indicated,” Mr McHugh said. “As part of our agreement with Golden Cross Operations, Argent can earn a 70% interest in Kempfield, Sunny Corner and West Wyalong by spending $4.5 million in exploration over the coming six years,” he said. Argent is farming in to three projects in the Lachlan Fold Belt, a well-mineralised region that hosts major gold and base metal mines, including Cadia/Ridgeway, North Parkes and Cowal. “Argent will undertake a VTEM survey in the coming months to identify extensions to the old mines in the area and any deeper undiscovered deposits that may exist,” Mr McHugh said.