Elsmore Resources raised A$2.2 million in an initial public offering of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange in December, with trading commencing on 23 December. The company holds a mining lease, a treatment plant and exploration licences in the New England district of New South Wales and is planning early small-scale tin and sapphire production which will generate cash to finance further exploration and development.
The Elsmore area has been an historic site of alluvial tin mining from the 1870s to the 1970s, and recent exploration was carried out from 2004 to 2012 by Malachite Resources. The known alluvial resource is some one million cubic metres containing 750 tonnes of cassiterite (590 tonnes tin) but the company believes that there is potential to identify more substantial placer and hard rock deposits. It has entered into offtake agreements for both sapphires and tin, based on a targeted rise in tin concentrate production from 500 tonnes initially to 1,200 tpy in three years.
