PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Small miners struggling to raise funds could turn to crowdfunding as a source of capital if the necessary legislation is passed.

Newly minted Mineral Intelligence (MI) was hoping to become Australia’s first small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) to embrace equity crowdfunding as part of a capital raising to commercialise its global mining portal, and the first-ever to introduce the concept of crowdfunding to the mining and resources sector in Australia.

MI aimed to bridge the gap between companies and investors seeking new opportunities and the large number of projects potentially available for sale worldwide.

Its database featured 60 resource projects spanning five continents and MI was hoping to grow this database to more than 200 projects within six months. Projects range from operating mines and development-ready deposits with established resources to grassroots exploration projects.

MI had also accumulated an extensive database of nearly 6 000 active industry participants, including company executives, senior geologists, engineers, industry professionals and stakeholders from other service providers and related industries.

The company has launched a A$500 000 capital raising to expand and commercialise its international digital marketplace for mining and resource assets, engaging Sydney-based crowdfunding provider Equitise to raise part of the funds through its New Zealand-based platform.

Equitise had been licensed to offer crowdfunding services in New Zealand.

The Australian government was reportedly set to announce a number of measures on crowdfunding in the coming months as part of its innovation agenda – including legislation to make crowdfunding available for Australian SMEs.

Crowdfunding was currently prohibited in Australia by the Corporations Act; however, this was expected to change as a result of the legislation currently being prepared.

The funds currently being raised by MI would be used to further develop and commercialise its digital marketplace for mining and resource assets, with scheduled development including translation into Spanish and Mandarin.