Spain's Abenojar Tungsten makes London market debut in biggest mining IPO since 2018

CEO Gonzalo Garcia San Miguel told Reuters that London was the natural choice for the listing because it offered access to specialist mining investors better suited to supporting the company's long-term development plans.

Garcia San Miguel said Abenojar was in the initial phases of work on building a processing plant that will refine tungsten concentrate from its El Moto project. Both the mine and processing facility have been designated strategic projects by the European Union, he said.

Tungsten, used in defence systems, aerospace components, industrial cutting tools and electronics, is considered a critical mineral by Western governments seeking to reduce dependence on China, which dominates global production and processing.

Unconditional trading in the shares, under the ticker "ABT", began on Friday after conditional trading started when the IPO was priced at 110 pence per share on Tuesday.

The shares were up 2% at 104 pence as of 1050 GMT.

The company raised €170-million ($190-million) in London's largest mining IPO since Kazakh uranium producer Kazatomprom KZAP.KZ raised £311-million ($417-million) through a listing of Global Depository Receipts in 2018.

With a market capitalisation of £522-million, Abenojar is on the cusp of joining the FTSE 250 index .FTMC.

Abenojar is developing the El Moto project in Abenójar, Spain, one of the world's largest and highest-grade undeveloped tungsten deposits.

Garcia San Miguel said the mine is expected to start producing in early 2029.

BMO Capital Markets and Peel Hunt acted as joint sponsors and joint global coordinators, alongside Deutsche Bank, with Canaccord Genuity serving as joint bookrunner.