Zambezi lists on ASX as African exploration gathers momentum

International copper company, Zambezi Resources yesterday made its debut on....

  International copper company, Zambezi Resources yesterday made its debut on the Australian Securities Exchange following a successful A$15m IPO. The London-listed company will complete its dual listing in Australia as its exploration activities gather momentum across three key copper projects in southern Zambia.According to Zambezi, five drilling rigs are already operational across its project portfolio, with a further three targeted to be operational by October this year. The company is pursuing an aggressive two-year program featuring total exploration expenditure of $21.15 million – including up to 100,000m of planned drilling in 2007, 80 percent of which will target resource drill-out programs.Zambezi’s Managing Director, Julian Ford said the company had successfully ramped up operations at its three main projects, Cheowa, Kangaluwi and Mulofwe. “We currently have five rigs operating and we expect to progressively ramp up to eight rigs by October,” Mr Ford said. “With twenty five geologists in the field, we have a very significant exploration effort underway in southern Zambia, which is geared to the rapid delineation and evaluation of a substantial copper resource inventory.””Following the success of our A$15m Australian IPO, we are now fully funded for an aggressive 2007 field season,” he said.The Zambezi Offer, comprising 33.3 million shares at 45 cents each, closed more than three times oversubscribed following very high levels of demand from Australian institutional and retail investors. Mr Ford said he was delighted with the investor response to the Australian IPO and was looking forward to an active period, with a significant commitment to exploration and resource development at the company’s core copper projects in Zambia.“This will represent one of the more significant exploration programs by a junior exploration company anywhere in the world. “The vast majority of this planned expenditure will go directly into the ground, which we believe is the best possible way to achieve a substantial value-uplift for our shareholders,” he said.