Australian gold miner Santana Minerals lists on NZX, as Central Otago project amps up

Australian gold mining company Santana Minerals has listed on the New Zealand stock exchange (NZX) with the intent to provide a return to the economy where its Central Otago project is indicated to earn up to $4 billion in export revenue over a decade.

Its prospect on private land at the Bendigo Station near Cromwell was expected to produce amounts of gold second-only to OceanaGold’s nearby Macraes mine - the biggest in the country.

“Our shareholders will be stumping up the capital to get that [gold] out, so they’re putting their capital and money at risk, so it’s only fair that they get a return,” Santana chief executive Damian Spring told Markets with Madison at the invite-only listing event in Auckland this week.

It was the first direct listing on the NZX since December 2022 (excluding reverse listings) and was the second gold mining offering to domestic investors.

“Great for the market to see another company come through,” NZX chief executive Mark Peterson told Markets with Madison.

“We’ve had minerals moments before but to see this come back, it adds a dimension to our market which we could probably do a little bit more of.”

Talking up the prospect for domestic investors, Spring said it expected to return 60% of the returns earned from the gold extracted to the local economy via dividends, wages and spend on equipment.

About $900 million was expected to be paid to the Government in corporate tax and mining royalties, the rate of which was set at 2% of sales or 10% of accounting profits, whichever was higher.

Asked if it would be feasible to pay more, if enforced, Spring said: “We will pay our legal royalties that we’re due to pay.”

The company had an exploration permit to carry out tests on its Bendigo-Ophir project, but did not yet have a full mining permit nor resource consent. It planned to apply for those later this year, after releasing a pre-feasibility study.

Its listing was undoubtedly for promotion, Spring added.

“It puts us out there and lets everyone know what we’re doing. So that, ultimately, when we do get to mining, we’re doing so for the benefit of not only ourselves and the shareholders, but the community.”

Santana received foreign exempt issuer status, allowing it to dual-list on the NZX with its primary listing remaining on the Australian market.

Its shares listed at a $1.31 reference price on Thursday, as determined by its price in Australia.

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Madison Reidy is host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.