Shares in the company, which is considering floating its XNS Chinese subsidiary in Hong Kong, reached 206p in early trading today.

Founded by chief executive officer Graeme Hosse, a Canadian former management consultant and sector specialist, London Mining, hitherto listed in Norway on Oslo’s junior Axess market, has four high-grade projects, in Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia, China and Greenland, and an eventual production target of 20 million tonnes of iron ore a year. Among them are Marampa in Sierra Leone, with 48 million tonnes from past mining, a 50 per cent-owned joint venture at Wadi Sawawin in Saudi Arabia with a five to ten million-tonne annual production target, an estimated 507 million-tonne project at Isua in Greenland and a 50 per cent-owned venture at Xiaonanshan near Nanjing in China.

Unlike most AIM mining hopefuls, London Mining comes to market with more than £140 million cash, having profitably sold a Brazilian iron ore operation to steel producer Arcelor Mittal for £500 million and returned a hefty chunk of the proceeds to shareholders. Some key investors are using the company’s AIM admission to sell down their holdings with a placing for around £74 million at a discounted 192.4p.