AUSTRALIAN resources and energy companies attracted $1.15b of investment funding in the October-December 2019 quarter, the highest amount since April-June 2018, according to an analysis by Austex Resource Opportunities.
Austex principal consultant Rob Murdoch said the trend for increased investment funding to ASX-listed metals and energy companies had carried over into early 2020.
Australian gold, copper and oil and gas companies listed on the ASX all did well in terms of attracting funds, including from small investors in Australia, he said.
“The large capital raisings in Q4 2019 are a result of recent exploration success for copper-gold porphyries in the Lachlan Fold belt of NSW and the Paterson province in WA, along with new gold discoveries in WA and oil and gas discoveries in North America,” he said.
The inflow of funds last quarter has boosted the amount of cash held by Australian resources and energy companies to $4b, the highest amount since the end of 2018.
Karoon Gas at $284m, and lithium firms Pilbara Minerals with $70m and Ioneer on $40m, were ASX companies with the highest capital raisings last quarter.
According to Austex research, 644 Australian resources companies had a net cash gain of $275m in the December 2019-ended quarter.
A core group of 36 ASX-listed resources companies raised $5m or more, and 142 companies booked $1m or more in the recent quarter period.
The increased capital flow funded $444m of exploration expenditure by ASX metals and energy companies, divided equally between projects in Australia and overseas.
Mr Murdoch said the move to electric vehicles that use lithium and nickel, and oil and gas projects were overarching themes in the capital market in Australia.
“Australia is the lynchpin of it all. The ASX is raising more money than anyone else and we have world class geologists, projects and companies,” he said.
Austex monitors ASX announcements for resources companies and issues daily updates to its customer base of resources professionals, fund managers, stockbrokers, mining and drilling contractors and overseas investors.
