Mundine’s $10m mining deal collapses

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ANTHONY KLAN

Warren Mundine’s $10 million mining IPO has collapsed, with investors shunning his “minerals exploration” company Fuse Minerals — which had never earned a cent in revenue or conducted a single drill.

After extending the offer period by more than eight times — from two weeks to more than four months — the company has been forced to scrap its raising and planned ASX float after failing to raise a minimum $6m legally required.

The failure means 500,000 shares and 2 million options Mundine was issued as chair of the company are now effectively worthless, and he will not receive his planned $120,000 a year salary.

Fuse Minerals, which was created in September 2021 and largely exists only on paper, was already in danger of collapse, and at June 30 last year had net current assets of just $178,749.

The firm’s now defunct 402-page prospectus estimated the costs of the offer at between $900,000 and $1.15m, including $236,000 in legal fees.

Mundine announced he was chair of Fuse Minerals — and that the company was seeking to raise up to $10m and list on the ASX — on November 2 last year, two weeks after the Indigenous Voice referendum.

“Warren Mundine recently announced the IPO launch through a tweet, where he emphasised his strong belief in mining for the prosperity of Australians,” Fuse Minerals said.

That November 4 statement was headed: “Warren Mundine: The Connection King”.

Mundine and Senator Jacinta Price were the two main faces of the “No” campaign against the Voice, both aggressively campaigning against the “elite”.

Despite overwhelming support among Indigenous Australians, the Voice was defeated with broader public support collapsing in the six months to poll day.

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“No” campaign group Advance says Mundine a “gamechanger”. Source: Advance

The Fuse Minerals offer opened to the public on November 20, with Mundine hosting “IPO lunch presentations” in Sydney and Perth on November 13 and November 21 respectively.

Fuse Minerals sought to raise between $6m and $10m by issuing between 30m and 50m shares at 20c a share.

In February The Klaxon and Crikey revealed that by January 24 Fuse Minerals had raised just $1.86m, and that the offer was unlikely to proceed.

On March 28 Fuse Minerals was legally forced to scrap the offer after missing its third and final deadline to raise the $6m minimum.

Yet the company’s website homepage and social media accounts — and the social media accounts of Mundine and his fellow directors — as yet make no mention of the raising being pulled.

Instead, the Fuse Minerals homepage continues to invite the public to “APPLY NOW” and to “Access Prospectus & IPO”.

“APPLY NOW”, says Fuse Minerals website. Source: Fuse Minerals

The only mention Fuse Minerals has made of the fact its entire raising and ASX-float has been pulled consists of five sentences that appear midway through a document now attached to the front of its 402-page prospectus.

After downloading the prospectus, it can be seen a “third supplementary prospectus” has been issued, dated 28 March, which contains the heading “withdrawal of offer”.

“This third supplementary prospectus formally withdraws the offer,” it states.

“All application moneys received will be returned to applicants as soon as practicable”.

“All application moneys received will be returned to applicants as soon as practicable” – Fuse Minerals

The “Third Supplementary Prospectus“. Source: Fuse Minerals

As chair, Mundine is responsible for overseeing corporate governance at Fuse Minerals. He is also the company’s only independent director.

Mundine has repeatedly refused to comment.

Fellow directors Todd Axford (Fuse’s managing director), Stephen Pearson and Vernon Tidy have also repeatedly refused to comment.

On November 19, the day before the offer opened, the Australian Financial Review reported Fuse Minerals was “backed by a host of mining big wigs”.

“Street Talk understands Regal Partners and Gina Rinehart’s son John Hancock have come on to cornerstone the raise alongside a commodity discovery fund out of Amsterdam and a Strata- investments-owned natural resource fund out of Bangkok,” the report said.

No source was cited for those claims.

The publication has not mentioned Fuse Minerals since.

“(The AFR) understands Regal Partners and Gina Rinehart’s son John Hancock have come on to cornerstone the raise” — AFR

Mundine shares the AFR report to social media. Source: Twitter/X

The failed raising is despite Fuse Minerals having offered stockbrokers hefty commissions of 6% of every dollar they raised from the public.

Fuse Minerals has not stated how much it raised although it is likely a small fraction of the $6m minimum.

As previously reported, at January 24 the company had raised just $1.86m and was legally forced to offer investors their money back if they applied by February 26.

How many did so has not been disclosed. As previously reported, Fuse Minerals made no mention of the allowed redemptions on its homepage or social media channels.

It was disclosed at the end of a six-page “second supplementary prospectus” attached to the Fuse Minerals prospectus on January 24.

Mundine, one of the nation’s most prolific social media commentators, also did not mention the redemptions, despite having posted to social media more than 150 times between January 24 and February 26.

Mundine made no mention investors could redeem funds. Source: The Klaxon

The Fuse Minerals offer was to close on December 4 and the company to list on December 18.

It issued a “supplementary prospectus”, extending the offer to January 24, and then a “second supplementary prospectus”, extending the offer to March 28 (when the offer was ultimately scrapped via the “third supplementary prospectus”.

The “latest news” section of Fuse Minerals’ website makes no mention of the raising and IPO being scrapped.

The most recent post is March 21.

“We are encouraged by the positive comments and reaction of experienced professionals towards our projects and IPO,” it states.

On February 23, just days after The Klaxon and Crikey revealed Fuse Minerals had raised just $1.86m, the company posted: “We are on track with our IPO journey”.

Analysis: Mundine’s mining “investment” a sham. Source: The Klaxon

The failure is a substantial blow to the entities appointed to handle the IPO, Unified Capital Partners and Defender Asset Management.

Fuse Minerals was reportedly the first IPO handled by UCP, which was founded by stockbrokers Tony Davis and Mark Gray after they left “wealth management” firm Shaw and Partners mid-last year.

If the raising had been successful, Defender Asset Management would have been paid a “selling fee” of 6% of all funds it raised, “plus a corporate advisory fee of $100,000” plus GST.

Unified Capital Partners was to have received 6% of all funds raised under the offer, less the “selling fee” paid to Defender.

The Fuse Minerals prospectus states Unified Capital Partners would also have been issued with Fuse Minerals “broker options”, equating to 5% of the “fully paid ordinary shares on issue”.

Mundine began spruiking Fuse Minerals almost immediately after the Voice referendum. Source: LinkedIn

Fuse Minerals was “focused on copper and other critical metals” and had “projects” in Western Australia and Queensland.

“Fuse Minerals Limited has established a portfolio of projects in favourable geological settings with the potential to deliver deposits of copper, nickel, silver, lead, zinc, uranium and gold,” its website states.

As previously revealed, those “projects” were comprised of nine exploration “permits” it listed in its prospectus —  of which Fuse Minerals owned just one.

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Mundine’s 500,000 shares and 2m options are now effectively worthless. Source: Fuse Minerals prospectus

Further close examination of Fuse Minerals’ highly-complex, 402-page prospectus, revealed that on November 10 independent expert, Ernst&Young partner Ryan Fisk, warned Fuse Minerals was at risk of collapse.

The company’s financial position meant there was “doubt about Fuse’s ability to continue as a going concern”, Fisk wrote.

As also previously revealed, Fuse Minerals had conducted an emergency capital raising between November 6 and November 10, days before the offer was opened to the public.

It raised $150,000 by issuing 1.5m shares at a price of 10c a share — half the public asking price of 20c a share.

The prospectus was made public on November 20.

“The Directors believe that the current cash resources will not be sufficient to fund the planned execution of Fuse’s principal activities and working capital requirements,” it states on page 275.

Do you know more? anthonyklan@protonmail.com

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