AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies
Part One
Admission to AIM
Competent Person’s Report (CPR)
Inclusion of a CPR
A CPR should be prepared on all material assets and liabilities of the applicant and
reproduced, in full and without adjustment, in the admission document.
Where a CPR has been prepared on the assets and liabilities of the applicant within
12 months of the current CPR, an explanation as to why this was not used and its
conclusions should be included in the admission document.
Competent Person (CP)
As a minimum, the CP should:
• be professionally qualified and a member in good standing of an appropriate
recognised professional association;
• have at least five years relevant experience in the estimation, assessment and
evaluation of the type of mineral or fluid deposit under consideration;
• be independent of the applicant, its directors, senior management and
advisers;
• not be remunerated by way of a fee that is linked to the admission or value of
the applicant; and
• not be a sole practitioner.
It is the nominated adviser’s responsibility to ensure that the CP producing the CPR
has the relevant and appropriate qualifications, experience and technical knowledge to
professionally and independently appraise the assets and liabilities being reported
upon and that the work performed by the CP will be subject to an internal review.
Scope of CPR
It is the nominated adviser’s responsibility to ensure that the scope of the CPR is
appropriate, given the applicant’s assets and liabilities.
In addition and as a minimum, the CPR should be prepared no more than 6 months prior
to the date of the admission document, be addressed to the applicant and the
nominated adviser and should:
• include a summary table of assets set out in Appendix 1;
• include the disclosures set out in Appendix 2;
• include the relevant tables set out in Appendix 3;
• set out what Standard has been used in preparing the CPR;
• include an up to date no material change statement; and
• report on any existing reserves and resources statements, stating clearly what
work was undertaken or include a derivation of any reserve or resource
estimates.
Admission document disclosure
Appropriate summarisation
The ‘front end’ of the admission document (usually the section entitled ‘Key Information’
and/or ‘Part I’), must provide a balanced view of all of the information contained within the
rest of the admission document so as to not be misleading, e.g. due to the omission of
information that is otherwise included in other sections of the admission document.
Extraction of information
Where information contained elsewhere in the admission document is extracted from
the CPR it should be extracted directly and presented in a manner which is not
misleading and provides a balanced view of the CPR. The location of such information in
the CPR should also be set out next to such extraction. Where information is extracted
from a third party source, a reference or attribution to such source should be set out next
to such extraction.
Review by Competent Person
The CP should review the information contained elsewhere in the admission document
which relates to information contained in the CPR and confirm in writing to the applicant
and nominated adviser that the information presented is accurate, balanced and
complete and not inconsistent with the CPR.
Material assets of the applicant
Material contracts
In relation to resource companies, the meaning of material contracts in paragraph 20 of
Annex 1 (of the Prospectus Rules) should be deemed to include all material subsisting
agreements which are included within, or which relate to, the assets and liabilities of the
applicant (notwithstanding whether such agreements are (i) within the ordinary course or
(ii) were entered into outside of the two years immediately preceding the publication of
the admission document) and a summary of these agreements should be included in
the admission document.
Due diligence
The Exchange expects that the nominated adviser will conduct full due diligence on the
applicant and its assets prior to admission and where an applicant’s assets exist
outside of the United Kingdom, as well as performing usual due diligence, a formal
opinion letter should be obtained from an appropriate legal adviser authorised to practice
in the jurisdiction in which the assets are located and in the law under which they are
governed. Such opinion should deal with matters including (i) issues of jurisdiction such
as the proper incorporation and good standing of any incorporated subsidiary or interest
and (ii) the title to or validity and enforceability of any assets (including for the avoidance
of doubt licences and agreements), as is appropriate to the applicant.
The Exchange would usually expect that details of the adviser providing such opinion
should be included in the advisers section of the admission document.