The move coincides with a placement of 67 million shares which, in combination with a loan from fund manager Salida, will amount to gross proceeds of $US15.3 million.

Eastcoal director and president Abraham Jonker said he was pleased the company was trading shares on AIM.

“This decision was largely driven by increased investor interest from the United Kingdom,” he said.

“I am confident that the experienced management team that we have assembled, combined with the highly attractive project fundamentals, (will) render our projects an extremely exciting opportunity for investors.”

EastCoal obtained the rights to the Verticalnaya anthracite mine, in Ukraine’s Donbass region, in 2009 and plans to start production in the first quarter of 2013.

The company is also developing and increasing production from the Menzhinsky underground mine, also in eastern Ukraine.

With the new wash plant at Menzhinsky, production is expected to increase from 6000 tonnes per month to 26,000tpm during 2013.

Verticalnaya is projected to produce in aggregate 2.3Mtpa of saleable high-quality anthracite for local and export markets when fully ramped up by 2019, continuing at that level until 2023 and thereafter reducing over time until the end of the current mine plan in 2029.

Since 1998, Menzhinsky has been in limited operation and currently produces 6000tpm of coking coal.

As further longwalls are introduced at the site, output is projected to increase year-on-year to reach the design capacity run-of-mine tonnage of 1Mtpa.