ASX-listed Central Otago gold explorer Santana Minerals has requested that its shares be suspended from trading pending “a potential material capital raising.”
Shares in the company, which is developing a project called Rise and Shine in Victoria, were also suspended last month as it retracted a statement touring a potential $2b “cash surplus” from the project, saying it did not comply with listing rules. Tuesday’s Santana statement says the company expects to make the capital raising announcement by the beginning of trading on Friday April 26. Santana’s shares are currently trading at A$1.27, giving the company a market capitalisation of A$226m ($246m).
The coalition Government is studying overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector as part of changes to the Crown Minerals Act to make exploration and production easier here.
Resources Minister Shane Jones said taxpayers had to pay for the decommissioning of the Tui oilfield when Tamarind Taranaki went into liquidation, but the Government would not let that happen again.
“There is a balancing exercise required, however, as some of the current settings are a barrier to attracting investment in exploration and production because they are overly costly and onerous on industry, some obligations lack necessary flexibility, and compliance obligations are uncertain and unclear.
“My goal is to get the balance right between regulatory burden and managing fiscal risk,” Jones said.
He said the United Kingdom and Australia had well-established regimes.
Jones said hui were planned for early May for the Government to discuss with iwi and hapū proposed changes to the Crown Minerals Act.