JAKARTA: Local miner PT Merdeka Gold Resources has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, paving the way for a dual listing after having been listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange since September last year.
The firm said the move aimed to broaden its investor base and access offshore capital while ramping up production at its flagship Pani gold mine in Pohuwato, Gorontalo, according to an exchange filing issued last Friday and quoted by Reuters.
Merdeka Gold, which raised 4.66 trillion rupiah during its IPO on the local bourse, said the Hong Kong listing would raise its profile among international institutional investors.
Swiss bank UBS and China-based brokerage Citic Securities are acting as joint sponsors.
Merdeka Gold Resources is a subsidiary of PT Merdeka Copper Gold and part of a broader mining and metals group controlled by PT Provident Capital Indonesia and PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya.
The firm reported a net loss of US$27.5mil in 2025, widening from a US$12.7mil loss a year earlier.
The Pani gold mine holds about seven million ounces of gold in mineral resources and 5.2 million ounces in ore reserves, making it one of the country’s largest primary gold deposits, behind Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Papua and Amman Mineral’s Batu Hijau mine in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara.
Mining operations at Pani officially began in October last year, with the first gold pour expected in the first half of 2026.
The project targets peak production of up to 500,000 ounces a year by 2032, which would place it among South-East Asia’s most productive gold mines.
Indonesia holds the world’s fourth-largest unmined gold reserves, estimated at about 3,600 tonnes, behind only Australia, Russia and South Africa, according to a January publication by the United States Geological Survey.
Gold miners have been ramping up production in a time when global bullion prices surged to record highs over the past year, supported by robust central bank demand, economic and geopolitical uncertainty as well as expectations of monetary easing, which have lifted appetite for safe-haven assets.
However, prices have retreated in recent weeks. With the Middle East conflict now in its fourth week, spot gold was down 15% on Tuesday at the start of the US-Israel war against Iran on Feb 28, and 22% below its January record high.
The government in December last year introduced new export taxes on gold amid rising prices in the metal’s price as part of efforts to support its mineral downstreaming push and retain more bullion within the country.
Gold priced in the range of US$2,800 to US$3,200 per troy ounce is subject to duties of 7.5% to 12.5% starting this year, with rates potentially rising to 10% to 15% depending on the type of gold being exported. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
