Healthy metal prices lured 19 mining companies to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the first half of 2004, adding $2.3 billion (US$1.7 billion) to a bourse already rich in resource companies.
The leap in the gold price last year to above US$400 per oz. and a simultaneous surge in base metal prices such as copper and nickel boosted the market capitalization of the mining sector.
Eight of the new mining listings have market capitalizations in excess of $100 million, and the 19 new listings so far this year mark a 533% increase over the same period last year.
The Toronto stock market, operated by TSX Group, says that the flurry of activity in the sector included the re-domiciling into Canada of three major foreign-listed firms — two from Australia and one from Norway.
The new foreign listings include Australia’s Equinox Minerals, a company with copper and cobalt assets in Zambia, which made its debut in Toronto on June 30, Australian miner Anvil Mining, and Norway’s Guinor Gold.
In recent years, the TSX and its western small-cap arm, the TSX Venture Exchange, have faced some competition for listings from the startup of London’s Alternative Investment Market, or AIM. The rivalry has caused the TSX to embark on an aggressive marketing campaign.
“TSX has worked hard in getting its mining story out to the world, making regular business development trips to South Africa, Chile, Peru, the U.S., Australia and recently to China, to communicate our leading position among the world’s exchanges when it comes to mining,” says Robert Fabes, senior vice-president of TSX.
He adds: “New listings attract new capital both from Canada and abroad, which adds to the overall momentum and depth of our Canadian capital markets, making them more globally significant.”
Some 210 mining companies are listed on the TSX mining sector, which has a market value of more than $139 billion.
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