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Ivanhoe Atlantic is mulling a US itemizing later this yr after receiving approvals for rail entry for its enormous Kon Kweni iron ore deposit in Guinea — an about-face from its earlier plans to listing in Australia.
The $1.8bn venture has been delayed for greater than a decade as a result of prolonged tussle over rail rights. This month the US firm lastly obtained formal approval for rail entry from Liberia, clearing the way in which to move ore on a line it has dubbed the “Liberty hall”.
J Peter Pham, govt chair, advised the FT that Ivanhoe Atlantic was contemplating an inventory “more than likely within the US, maybe an Australian secondary itemizing, however that’s to be decided”.
The corporate had been planning to listing in Australia, the place it employed bankers early final yr to discover an IPO. The swap underscores how shifting American insurance policies are drawing mining corporations to US capital markets.
“We aren’t in a rush to go public; we need to do it nicely,” Pham advised the FT. He added that the burst of mining assist from the Trump administration has “affected our calculus” in deciding on the IPO location.
Because the US authorities has elevated its deal with crucial minerals, Ivanhoe Atlantic has positioned its mine and rail venture as a Trump-endorsed different to the huge Chinese language-led mining tasks close by.
“We’re very actively engaged with the US authorities in any respect ranges, and we’ve got gotten very constructive suggestions. I’ll depart it at that,” Pham stated.
The Kon Kweni venture, backed by Canadian-American mining billionaire Robert Friedland, will produce high-grade iron ore with 66.5 per cent purity — among the many world’s highest.
Friedland has dubbed the output from the positioning, often known as Nimba, because the “beluga caviar” of iron ore. Ivanhoe Atlantic says it may begin delivery as quickly as the primary half of 2027.
The Liberian authorities issued its “handbill” finalising the choice earlier this month, in accordance with a duplicate of the doc seen by the FT, after the legislature ratified the invoice in December.
Beforehand, precedence use of the rail line had belonged to its operator ArcelorMittal, the Indian conglomerate that can be an enormous investor in Liberia.
Ivanhoe Atlantic’s majority shareholder is I-Pulse, a personal know-how firm based and chaired by Friedland, who can be the founding father of Toronto-listed Ivanhoe Mines.
