Miners retreat from Toronto exchange, one-time portal to riches – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 7, 2013)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

THE love affair between Australian miners and the Toronto Stock Exchange appears to be well and truly over, with the bleak conditions in the market driving companies to drop their dual listings and return to their home bourse

Several Australian miners have either left or are preparing to leave Toronto amid complaints about the low levels of investor interest in the resources sector, high levels of compliance, the steep cost of maintaining a listing and the failure of companies to attract the share price re-rating they had expected.

The TSX for years ranked as the largest single exchange for mining ventures and acted as a major gateway for Australian-based companies looking to tap into the North American capital pool. The market also attracted Australian companies that believed they would enjoy better valuations in the eyes of Canadian and American investors.

However, executives told The Australian that investors in North America were increasingly uninterested in resource stocks.

In recent months, gold major Newcrest Mining, copper producer Tiger Resources and embattled nickel miner Mirabela Nickel have all walked away from their Toronto listings. Perth-based Western Areas gave up its TSX listing last year.

Copper miner Mawson West, which only delisted from Australia in 2009 in favour of a TSX listing, is actively investigating the prospect of abandoning Canada in favour of a return to the Australian Securities Exchange while African gold play Perseus Mining is also thought to be weighing up the benefits of its North American listing.

Mawson West managing director Bruce McFadzean told The Australian that the appetite for speculative resource stocks that used to be the hallmark of the Canadian market had disappeared. “The Canadian market has really taken a significant hit in the resources sector specifically,” Mr McFadzean said.

“A lot of the funds there have either shut down completely through redemptions or they’ve changed their criteria for investing so they only invest in the opportunities with low risk.”

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