Aventine Resources Gears up for IPO

A gold-copper explorer betting on the Paterson Province pedigree — and the team that helped find Hemi

01  /  The 60-Second Pitch

Aventine Resources Ltd (proposed ASX: ARE) is a Western Australian gold-copper explorer coming to the ASX with a $15m (minimum) to $20m (maximum) raise at $0.20 per share. The company is asking the market to back four projects totalling roughly 1,780 km² in the Paterson Province and the East Pilbara — two of the more credentialed exploration addresses in the country.

The pitch is, first and foremost, about location. Aventine’s flagship Paterson Project sits north-northwest of Greatland Resources’ Havieron gold-copper deposit (4.1Moz Au) and northeast of the Telfer mine (3.2Moz Au) (Figure 1). The broader district hosts Rio Tinto’s Winu copper-gold discovery, the Nifty copper mine, Antipa’s Minyari Dome, and — over in the Pilbara — De Grey’s 11Moz Hemi gold system. This is not frontier dirt nobody has heard of. It is ground that the majors have circled for forty years.

Figure 1: Map of Aventine Resources project tenements across the Paterson Province and East Pilbara, Western Australia, near the Telfer and Havieron gold-copper deposits (Source: IPO Prospectus)

The notable name on the register is Greatland Resources (AIM; ASX: GGP). Greatland is vending much of Aventine’s tenure into the float, and hence they will be the company’s largest shareholder at around 11% on listing, and is appointing a nominee director (Rowan Krasnoff) after admission. Greatland owns and operates the two anchor assets of the modern Paterson — Telfer and Havieron — so its decision to seed Aventine and stay on the register is the closest thing this deal has to a stamp of approval.

The second pillar is people. Technical Director Allan Kneeshaw is a 30-year exploration geologist who, most recently at De Grey Mining, played a key role in the discovery of the 11Moz Hemi gold deposit.

Exploration Manager Rod King also comes out of the De Grey / Northern Star camp via a decade at Teck. Managing Director Benjamin Dunn brings the capital-markets side — two decades across Citigroup, JP Morgan and CLSA. On paper, this is a team that has actually found something before.

What you are not buying is a resource. There is no JORC Mineral Resource, no Ore Reserve and no Exploration Target anywhere in the portfolio. There are encouraging historical drill intercepts — and that is exactly the point. Aventine is a drilling story, and the budget is built to drill.

02  /  Aventine Resources IPO Snapshot

Everything you need to know about the Aventine Resources IPO in one table:

Table 1 — IPO Snapshot

Item	Detail
Company	Aventine Resources Ltd (ACN 686 650 297)
Proposed ASX Code	ARE
Offer Price	$0.20 per share
Raise (min / max)	$15.0m / $20.0m (75m / 100m shares)
Indicative Market Cap (min / max)	~$27.95m / ~$33.51m (undiluted, at offer price)
Existing Shares on Issue	31,652,222
Shares on Issue at Admission	139,767,376 (min) – 167,545,154 (max)
Free Float	~62% (not less than 40%)
Lead Manager	Bell Potter Securities Limited
Cornerstone / Strategic	Greatland Resources (AIM; ASX: GGP) – ~11.1–11.4%; nominee director post-listing
Lead Manager Options	3,000,000 unquoted @ $0.30, 3-yr expiry
Board Options	7,000,000 unquoted @ $0.25 and $0.35, 3-yr expiry
Performance Rights	8,884,168 (plus a separate Mt Cecelia milestone right)
Lodgement / Open / Close / Quotation	22 May / 1 June / 22 June / 7 July 2026 (indicative)
Min Application	10,000 shares ($2,000), then 2,500-share ($500) increments
Underwritten?	No
Eligible Jurisdictions	Australia (with limited offers to certain investors in permitted jurisdictions)

03  /  Capital Structure & Dilution

This is the number to sit with before anything else: existing shareholders go from owning 100% of the company to approximately 19% on Maximum Subscription (around 23% on Minimum). The number of shares on issue increases from 31.65 million to 167.5 million on maximum subscription — a ~429% increase. On a fully diluted basis (all options and performance rights in, plus the Mt Cecelia milestone shares), there will be roughly 191 million securities in issue at maximum.

That is heavy, and heavier than you see on many small-cap floats. It is the direct consequence of a thin pre-IPO share count (a young company) raising a relatively large $15–20m and issuing a big slug of consideration shares to the vendors. New money and vendors together own roughly 75–80% of the company on day one. Existing holders are very much along for the ride.

Table 2 — Capital Structure & Dilution

Security class	Min sub. (shares)	%	Max sub. (shares)	%
Existing shares	31,652,222	22.6%	31,652,222	18.9%
IPO Offer shares	75,000,000	53.7%	100,000,000	59.7%
Vendor shares	33,115,154	23.7%	35,892,932	21.4%
Total shares at Admission	139,767,376	100.0%	167,545,154	100.0%
Options on issue	10,000,000	—	10,000,000	—
Performance Rights	8,884,168	—	8,884,168	—
Fully diluted total	158,651,544	—	186,429,322	—

Fully diluted total excludes the Mt Cecelia milestone right (up to a further 5,000,000 shares).

The options and rights stack

There are 10,000,000 options on issue at admission:

—  3,000,000 Lead Manager Options @ $0.30, expiring 3 years from issue

—  7,000,000 Board Options @ $0.25 and $0.35, expiring 3 years from issue

Plus 8,884,168 Board Performance Rights issued to directors and management, with vesting terms set out in the prospectus. Separately, the Mt Cecelia acquisition carries a milestone right that converts to up to 5,000,000 shares if a JORC resource of at least 500,000 ounces of gold is defined at that project within five years.

Two things to like here. First, the board options strike at and above the IPO price ($0.25 and $0.35), so management only makes money on them if the stock works for everyone. Second, the milestone right is genuinely performance-linked — it only triggers on a half-million-ounce discovery, which is the kind of outcome every shareholder would happily be diluted for.

Escrow

Roughly 52.7 million shares will be classified as restricted by the ASX — about 23.8m shares (plus most options and rights) under 24-month escrow, and about 28.9m shares under 12-month escrow. None of the IPO shares are escrowed. The free float is expected to be approximately 62%. That is a healthy free float, but the escrow means a meaningful chunk of the register is locked up for the first year or two — worth keeping in mind for liquidity.

04  /  Use of Funds

Including the $2.11m of cash already on the balance sheet, Aventine will have roughly $17.1m (min) to $22.1m (max) to deploy. Here is where it goes over the two years following admission:

Table 3 — Use of Funds (2 years)

Use of funds	Min sub. ($)	%	Max sub. ($)	%
Exploration expenditure	11,981,274	70.0%	16,692,169	75.5%
Feasibility expenditure	400,000	2.3%	400,000	1.8%
Directors’ & management fees	1,991,360	11.6%	1,991,360	9.0%
Costs of the Offer	1,382,511	8.1%	1,689,820	7.6%
Working capital	1,353,996	7.9%	1,335,792	6.0%
Total	17,109,141	100.0%	22,109,141	100.0%

This is a lean, exploration-weighted budget, and that is a genuine positive. Putting 70–75% of available funds straight into the ground is at the upper end of what you see on a float of this size — a lot of explorers come to market spending a third of the raise on overheads and the offer. Aventine isn’t.

The one line that may appear to be of note is costs of the offer, which work out to roughly 8–9% of the gross amount raised (higher at the minimum end). That is not outrageous for a non-underwritten small-cap IPO, but it sits at the firmer end of the range, and the Lead Manager also collects 3 million options on top of the cash fee. Directors’ and management fees of ~$2.0m over two years are reasonable for a five-person board plus management, and the percentage falls as the raise grows.

05  /  The Project Portfolio

Aventine comes to market with four projects across the Paterson Orogen and the East Pilbara. The headline acreage is real, but read the granted-versus-application column carefully — a chunk of the Paterson South ground is still in application.

Table 4 — Project Portfolio

Project	Area (km²)	Tenements	Targets	Lever / Analogue
Paterson	676	5 granted	Au, Cu	NNW of Havieron, NE of Telfer; Black Hills Dome ≈ Telfer setting
Paterson South	864	2 gr / 7 apps	Au, Cu	~45km SW of Paterson; on trend to Nifty & Maroochydore Cu
Mt Cecelia	~135	1 granted	Au	~130km NW of Paterson; ~70km W of Rio’s Winu
Panorama	~105	3 granted	Au, Ni	East Pilbara greenstone; orogenic Au + Ni sulphide
TOTAL	~1,780	11 gr / 7 apps	Multi	Cornerstone: Greatland (~11%)

5.1  Paterson — The Flagship

If you are buying ARE, Paterson is the centre of gravity. Five granted licences covering 676 km² — Black Hills, Black Hills North, Paterson Range East, Budjidowns and Basel — sitting directly on trend with Greatland’s Havieron and Telfer assets (Figure 2). The ground is being acquired from Greatland and from a Greatland–Rio Tinto joint venture.

Figure 2: The flagship Paterson Project combines favourable geology, walk-up drill targets, Telfer and Havieron analogues and untested structural positions (Source: The company Website)

The most important point is that there are already gold hits on this ground, not just next to it. Historical drilling at Black Hills returned intercepts including 13m @ 2.01 g/t Au from 67m and 12m @ 1.38 g/t Au from 32m, plus deeper gold-copper anomalism (3.5m @ 1.88 g/t Au from 226.5m; 23m @ 706 ppm Cu). The Black Hills Dome has a geological setting compared to Telfer itself, and sits on the same regional structure as Antipa’s Minyari Dome. Budjidowns has thrown up scattered deeper hits (3m @ 0.52 g/t Au from 502m at Atlantis), and Paterson Range East and Basel both carry untested or partially tested targets under cover.

The work plan is what you want to see: consolidate the large historical datasets, build 3D structural models, define drill-ready targets, run heritage surveys, then drill — RC and diamond across Black Hills, Paterson Range East, Basel and Budjidowns. Two of the tenements (Basel and Budjidowns) carry a 1.5% NSR royalty back to the Rio vendor.

5.2  Paterson South — Big, But Mostly Applications

Paterson South is the largest project by area (864 km²) and the one to read most carefully. Only two of the nine tenements are granted — the rest are exploration licence applications, and Aventine has explicitly confirmed that no IPO proceeds will be spent on the applications. One application (ELA45/7247) overlaps a prior third-party application and, on grant, may be cut down to a much smaller area — possibly nothing at all.

What’s there geologically is interesting: Throssell Range Group sediments including the Broadhurst Formation, which hosts the Nifty and Maroochydore sediment-hosted copper deposits. The granted ground (the Lamil JV tenement acquired from Rumble Resources and AIC Mines, plus an FMG–Carawine tenement) has had historical drilling that mostly failed to penetrate cover or test the targets Aventine is interested in. So the thesis is “under-tested, on a good address” — but the project is more option than near-term driver, and the application overhang is a real caveat. The Lamil tenement carries a 1% NSR to its vendors.

5.3  Mt Cecelia — The Best Single Intercept

Mt Cecelia is a single granted licence (~135 km²) on the East Pilbara–Paterson boundary, acquired from West Wits Mining (ASX: WWI). It punches above its size because it has, arguably, the best historical gold result in the whole portfolio. After geophysics defined bedrock conductors, Rio Tinto Exploration drilled the project under a farm-in and hit:

—  WEWI0004: 24m @ 0.95 g/t Au within 82m @ 0.51 g/t Au from 128m

—  WEWI0001: 20m @ 0.93 g/t Au within 56m @ 0.55 g/t Au from 194m

Those are wide, near-surface gold intercepts from a first-pass program — exactly the kind of result that justifies a follow-up drill campaign. The catch is the royalty and consideration load: Mt Cecelia carries two separate 1% NSR royalties (a combined 2%), plus the deferred milestone payment to West Wits — $1.0m in cash or 5m shares — that triggers on a 500,000-ounce JORC resource. That’s a lot of leakage stacked on one tenement, but it only bites if the project actually delivers.

5.4  Panorama — The Pilbara Optionality

Panorama is three granted licences (~105 km²) of Archaean greenstone in the East Pilbara, prospective for orogenic (lode) gold and nickel sulphides (Figure 3). Soil and rock-chip sampling has flagged a 1.4km nickel anomaly (peak 0.3% Ni rock chip) and weak gold. No specific budget has been allocated to Panorama in the first two years — it’s held for early-stage reconnaissance and regional sampling. Treat it as free optionality, not a reason to subscribe.

Figure 3: The Panorama Project is located west of Nullagine and south of Marble Bar, only 50km from Nullagine Gold Project. (Source: The company website)

06  /  The Exploration Budget

Here is the detail behind the ~$12m–$16.7m exploration line — and the single most encouraging feature is how much of it is drilling.

Table 5 — Exploration Budget

Category	Yr 1 Min ($)	Yr 2 Min ($)	2-Yr Min	2-Yr Max
Access, heritage, tenure & licence	1,343,375	1,008,013	2,351,388	2,437,220
Soil sampling	84,425	—	84,425	82,500
Geophysics & consulting	432,000	120,000	552,000	669,500
Drilling & assays	2,093,026	3,083,318	5,176,344	8,496,492
Field operating costs	1,861,728	1,955,389	3,817,117	5,006,457
Grand total	5,814,554	6,166,720	11,981,274	16,692,169

Drilling and assays alone account for over half of the exploration spend — roughly $5.2m at minimum, scaling to ~$8.5m at maximum. That is the right shape for an exploration story whose entire thesis is “drill the targets the majors left behind.” Year 2 is materially more drilling-heavy than Year 1, which makes sense: Year 1 is about data consolidation, modelling, heritage clearances and first-pass drilling; Year 2 is where the follow-up campaigns land.

One transparency note: the budget is presented by activity, not by project. Unlike some floats that tell you exactly how many dollars each asset gets, Aventine hasn’t published a per-project split. Management’s described priority work — drill-ready targets at Black Hills and the Mt Cecelia follow-up — tells you where the early focus sits, but the precise allocation is at the board’s discretion.

07  /  The Board, the Management, the Story Behind Them

A small-cap exploration IPO is a bet on people, and this is where Aventine is strongest. The standout thread is De Grey Mining and the Hemi discovery — both the Technical Director and the Exploration Manager come out of that camp, which is about as good a recent gold-discovery pedigree as exists in Western Australia.

Table 6 — Board and Management

Name	Role	Track record / signal
Benjamin Dunn	Managing Director	20+ yrs legal, equity & capital markets in resources. Senior roles at Citigroup, JP Morgan, CLSA. The capital-markets engine.
Simon Andrew	Non-Exec Chairman	20+ yrs financial markets across Australia & Asia. Exec Director of Mamba Exploration (ASX: M24), NED of Riversgold (ASX: RGL).
Allan Kneeshaw	Technical / Executive Director (Exploration)	30+ yrs geologist. Key role in De Grey’s 11Moz Hemi discovery. Prior: Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Acacia, MIM. Competent Person.
John Barbante	Non-Exec Director	30+ yrs mining & business. Ex-CEO of White Tiger Resources, secured two major-company farm-ins. Government & industry network.
Rowan Krasnoff	Proposed Non-Exec Director	The Greatland nominee, to be appointed after Admission.
Rodney King	Exploration Manager	Ex-Principal Geologist at Northern Star (post De Grey acquisition), former De Grey Exploration Manager; a decade at Teck.
Clarissa Chua	Company Secretary	Chartered Accountant; Co Sec for several ASX-listed resources companies (via Mining Corporate).

At the prospectus date, the founding directors each held around 5% of a tiny share count; post-raise they sit near 1% each on shares, with the upside loaded into options (struck at or above the IPO price) and performance rights. That is a reasonable alignment structure — the team makes real money only if the stock re-rates well beyond $0.20.

Table 7 — Director Interests on Admission (Maximum Subscription)

Director	Shares	% (max)	Options	Perf. Rights
Benjamin Dunn	1,625,001	1.0%	1,750,000	2,555,000
Simon Andrew	1,625,001	1.0%	1,600,000	1,462,500
Allan Kneeshaw	1,725,000	1.0%	1,750,000	2,555,000
John Barbante	1,625,000	1.0%	1,400,000	851,668
Rowan Krasnoff	250,000	0.1%	—	—
Board total	6,850,002	~4.1%	6,500,000	7,424,168

08  /  The Greatland Factor

The Greatland relationship is the most distinctive feature of this float, and like any cornerstone arrangement it is part validation, part transaction, part overhang.

Table 8 — Substantial Holders on Admission

Holder	Shares (min / max)	% (min / max)
Greatland Resources (AIM; ASX: GGP)	15,865,154 / 18,642,932	11.4% / 11.1%
West Wits Mining (ASX: WWI)	10,000,000 / 10,000,000	7.2% / 6.0%

The Read

Greatland Resources is not a passive name on the register. It owns and operates Telfer (3.2Moz Au) and Havieron (4.1Moz Au) — the two assets that define the modern Paterson Province. It is vending a large slice of Aventine’s tenure (the Paterson and Panorama ground, alongside a Rio Tinto JV interest), taking equity as part-consideration, becoming the company’s largest single shareholder at ~11%, and appointing a nominee director after listing.

The bull reading is straightforward: the dominant operator in the district has looked at this ground, decided it is worth exploring but not worth holding inside its own portfolio, and chosen to back a focused vehicle to do the work — while keeping a seat at the table and equity upside. A Paterson Province specialist seeding a Paterson Province explorer is a meaningful signal.

The bear reading is the mirror image, and it’s the same pattern you see whenever a major divests ground to an explorer: Greatland is offloading non-core, pre-resource tenure it chose to deprioritise behind Telfer and Havieron. The ground is early-stage, and Greatland’s continued involvement does not guarantee a discovery — it guarantees a knowledgeable, aligned shareholder. West Wits Mining, the Mt Cecelia vendor, sits alongside Greatland with ~6–7% and a deferred interest tied to a future resource. Both holdings are validation and, in time, potential supply.

09  /  The Financials

Aventine’s financials are exactly what you’d expect from a company incorporated in April 2025 and converted to a public company in April 2026.

Table 9 — Financial Position

Item	Detail
Incorporated	29 April 2025 (public company 3 April 2026)
Operating revenue	Nil (pre-revenue explorer)
Existing cash (at Prospectus Date)	$2,109,141
Total funds available post-raise (min / max)	~$17.1m / ~$22.1m
Implied enterprise value at listing (approx.)	~$11m (market cap less available cash)
Dividend policy	None expected near term

Two things to note. First, unlike many pre-IPO explorers that arrive on the eve of listing running on fumes, Aventine comes to market with ~$2.1m of cash already in hand — modest, but a more comfortable starting position than the bare-cupboard floats you often see. The prospectus presents the company as adequately funded for roughly two years on the back of the raise.

Second, the implied enterprise value is the number that matters. Strip the IPO cash out of the ~$28–33.5m market cap and the market is effectively valuing the ground itself at around $11m. Most of the headline market cap, in other words, is the cash you’re putting in. That is normal for an exploration float, but it frames expectations correctly: you are paying ~$11m for a package of drill targets on a great address, not for a defined resource.

10  /  The Market Context — A Great Address at a Great Time for Gold

Most of the value case here is leverage to two things: the quality of the Paterson Province as a gold-copper address, and the gold price that funds the drilling.

The Address

The Paterson Orogen is one of the few Australian districts that has produced genuine tier-one discoveries in the modern era. Telfer has been a multi-decade gold producer; Havieron is one of the most significant gold-copper finds of the last decade; Rio Tinto’s Winu sits to the east; the Nifty copper mine and Antipa’s Minyari Dome round out the neighbourhood.

Over in the East Pilbara, De Grey’s Hemi system — the discovery that several of Aventine’s team worked on — redefined what greenstone gold exploration could deliver and ended in a Northern Star takeover. The point is not that proximity equals a discovery (it never does), but that the ingredients, the structures and the host rocks that produced those deposits run through Aventine’s tenure.

The gold backdrop

The timing is, frankly, the easy part of the story. Gold has been trading around US$4,500 an ounce in mid-2026 — extraordinary levels by any historical measure, and a world away from the sub-US$2,000 environment of a few years ago.

For a pre-revenue explorer, a strong gold price does two things: it makes capital easier to raise, and it makes even modest-grade intercepts look economically interesting. A 24-metre hit at ~1 g/t gold reads very differently at US$4,500/oz than it did at US$1,500/oz. That tailwind won’t last forever, and exploration risk is exploration risk regardless of the metal price — but it is hard to imagine a better moment to be funding a Paterson gold drill program.

The copper angle (Paterson South’s Nifty-style targets, the copper anomalism at Black Hills) adds a second commodity string, into a market where copper’s structural supply story remains one of the most durable in resources.

Samso Concluding Comments

Aventine is a clean, well-constructed exploration float. There is no resource, no reserve, not even an exploration target — and the prospectus says so plainly. What you are backing is a drilling story on a genuinely good address, run by a team that has found gold before, and seeded by the district’s dominant operator. Most importantly, it is access to exploration tenure that has come from Greatland Gold - access that would not have happened without their participation.

The things to like are real. The address is Tier-1. There are already gold hits on the ground — Black Hills and Mt Cecelia in particular give the team something concrete to chase rather than blue-sky nearology. The budget is lean and drilling-heavy, with over half of exploration dollars going into the drill bit. The Greatland cornerstone and board seat is the kind of validation money can’t manufacture. And gold near US$4,500/oz is the most supportive funding backdrop a gold explorer could ask for.

The frictions are equally real, and they cluster around dilution and stage. Existing holders are diluted to ~19% on max — this is, in effect, a new company. Listing is conditional on completing five separate acquisition agreements, any of which could slip. A large slab of the Paterson South ground is still in application, with one tenement at risk of being granted over almost nothing. The royalty load across the portfolio is heavy — multiple 1% and 1.5% NSRs, plus the Mt Cecelia deferred consideration — which will matter if any project ever reaches production. And until the drill rig turns, every target in the portfolio is a hypothesis.

The natural next conversation, exactly as with any quality explorer, is the first post-listing drill program — where it lands, what targets it tests, and whether Black Hills and Mt Cecelia convert historical hits into something that can grow toward a maiden resource. If they do, the re-rate path against a US$4,500 gold backdrop is obvious. If they don’t, this is a long, capital-hungry road like every other exploration story. The address is excellent and the team is credible; the deal is priced for exploration, and the drill bit will write the rest.

The Samso Way – Seek the Research

Here at Samso, we pride ourselves on delivering content for investors that is independent and informed by over three decades of experience in the industry. Our content is well-researched and is only created if I see merit in discussing the company's story.

Our mission is simple: cut through the noise and spotlight what matters—genuine stories, grounded insights, and real opportunity.

Our content is well-researched and is only created if the team sees merit in discussing the company or concept. Investors can explore our three core platforms: 

• Coffee with Samso

• Samso Insights

• Samso News

There may be numerous paths to success in investing, but the common thread among successful individuals is that they remain committed to making informed decisions. Equip yourself with the right knowledge and tools, and you will be well on your way to achieving your financial goals.

Most importantly, investors need to be absolutely diligent in understanding their own risk-reward tolerance and capabilities. Never bite off more than you can chew. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the Great Wall stood because it took centuries to complete.

---

The Samso Philosophy:

Stay curious. Stay sharp. And remember—digging deeper always uncovers the real value.

In Life, there is no such thing as a Free Lunch.

Never bite off more than you can chew is my parting comment.

Happy Investing, and the only four-letter word you need to know is DYOR. 

---

To support our independent nature of our work, please head over to our Support Page and give us a helping hand in any of the ways listed. This is a new initiative for the Samso Platform, and it was always the concept of Samso when we started this journey in 2018.

---

Disclaimer

The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer, or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase, or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints.

Read full Disclaimer. 

Share to Grow: Your Bonus

Samso has just released an eBook: How to Add Value to your Share Portfolio

|A lesson on geological models sought by mining companies that gives insight and an understanding of which portfolios are better - and potentially more lucrative – investments. Click here to download this eBook.|

Download eBook

If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information. I try to write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value. It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation sees the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and has a need to share your journey, please contact me at noel.ong@samso.com.au.

About Samso

Samso is a trusted platform that equips dedicated investors with up-to-date industry knowledge and insigh0ts from top CEOs and thought leaders. By staying informed on business advancements and market trends, investors can enhance their financial decisions through a combination of expert guidance and their own research.

---

Samso News  |  www.samso.com.au  |  An Investor Lens on ASX-Listed Companies