After decades counting his clients' gold nuggets, Australian accountant John Langford wants to dig up some for himself. But rather than pan the well-explored outback deposits near his home in far-western Australia, Langford, chief executive of Mundo Minerals Ltd, is looking a continent away in Brazil.
"I wanted to look after my own assets for a while rather than someone else's," the former Deloitte's accountant said.
"The mining industry in Brazil is a lot like it was in Australia in the 1970s."
Langford is not the first Australian upstart with a penchant for prospecting far from home, encouraged by a rally in gold that drove the price to a quarter-century high this year.
A number of smaller-capped miners listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, such as Resolute Mining Ltd and Anvil Mining Ltd, have long been combing developing countries in Africa for gold. In Laos, Oxiana Ltd and Pan Australian Resources N.L. have established the country's first two mines.
Mundo hopes to raise A$20 million ($15 million) next month via an initial public offering of its shares on the Australian bourse. Australian brokering house Tolhurst Noall Ltd will fully underwrite the offer, which has attracted "a number of institutional investors," Langford said.