Rio2 leaps onto Canada’s Toronto stock exchange main board

Rio2 Limited has upgraded its share listing to the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) after receiving approval from Canada’s biggest exchange provider.  The exchange has the world’s tenth-largest market capitalisation.  

The company’s shares, previously traded on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), will now trade on the TSX main board under the symbol RIO, effective on Wednesday, September 3. Its shares will then be voluntarily delisted from the TSXV.

Rio2 executive chairman Alex Black said: “Graduating to the TSX is a milestone achievement for Rio2. It demonstrates the significant progress our company has achieved in recent years. This listing will provide greater visibility, improved liquidity and increased access to a broader investor base as we continue to advance our growth strategy.”

Management says shareholders do not need to take any action in connection with the graduation from the TSXV to the TSX.

The company revealed last month that its Fenix Gold Project in Chile’s Atacama region is 41 per cent complete. By June 30, the company had spent US$56.4 million (A$86.3 million) against a US$57.8 million (A$88.4 million) budget, excluding corporate overheads and 2022 pre-construction costs. It anticipates achieving first gold production in January next year.

Rio2 plans to use heap leach mining at Fenix, in which crushed ore will be stacked on a thick polyethylene pad and sprayed with a chemical solution to dissolve and extract gold.

The company aims to generate a solid 91,000 ounces per year grading 0.54 grams per tonne (g/t) for 12 years. Over a 17-year mine life, Fenix is expected to pump out an average 82,000 ounces a year at 0.48g/t gold.

The Fenix deposit has a huge 389 million tonnes grading 0.38g/t gold for an impressive 4.8 million gold ounces in the measured and indicated categories.

Heap leach mining is relatively unfamiliar in Australia, as most domestic gold deposits are processed using the more common carbon-in-leach process. In some cases, heap leaching offers an advantage in transforming lower-grade ore bodies into economical deposits.

The method usually offers lower upfront capital costs and ongoing operational costs, along with a reduced environmental impact due to lower water consumption and energy use. It can enable smaller-scale operators a cheaper entry into processing large-scale deposits, without raising massive capital upfront to construct costly traditional processing plants.

Rio2 experienced management is well-placed to have a red-hot crack at making Fenix a success. The company is led by Perth-born mining identity Alex Black, who has done it before. Black was instrumental in developing another Canadian-listed company Rio Alto Mining, which used heap leaching on a deposit with similar grades to Fenix. 

Notably, Rio Alto was eventually taken out by another Canadian-listed company for more than US$1 billion.

Rio2 says Fenix is the biggest permitted and fully financed gold heap leach project in the Americas. The company recently received a US$50 million (A$78 million) third prepayment instalment from United States-based precious metals investment firm Wheaton Precious Metals International under a precious metals purchase agreement for Fenix.

It views the funding as a strong endorsement of Rio2’s construction and development of the massive oxide-hosted, heap-leach gold project. 

Rio2 is moving swiftly to develop Fenix. Construction costs are on budget, and the project is led by an experienced management team, strengthened by Wheaton’s financial support, while the price of the precious yellow metal holds strong at US$3449 (A$5275) per ounce.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au