Prairie Mining Limited is an Australian exploration and mining company whose flagship project is to build the Jan Karski Mine in the Lublin Coal Basin.
The TAILORS Group was hired to provide comprehensive support for the company’s communication activities. Our initial task was to systematize existing activities and prepare and implement a uniform message for Polish and foreign investors and the local community before the IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The project required the unique competences of the TAILORS Group, our ability to work under time pressure and coordination between geographically dispersed teams of stakeholders located in different time zones (Warsaw, London and Perth).
A significant challenge during project execution was the crisis on the coal market, especially faltering coal prices and bankruptcies of mining companies as well as unfavorable legal regulations. Public opinion and the media were utterly convinced that a definitive retreat from coal was imminent.
Outcome
Prairie Mining successfully debuted on the WSE in September 2015. The IPO was received very favorably both by investors and the financial media despite the difficult environment. The project’s underlying objective captured their attention, namely, the plan to build the Jan Karski mine, thereby truncating the emotional discussion surrounding the state of the Polish mining industry.
Investors were highly interested in the Company’s shares after the IPO despite very low coal prices on the world’s markets at the time. This confirms the effectiveness of the conducted campaign emphasizing the cost effectiveness of Prairie Mining’s planned capital expenditures and highlightinhg the company’s ability to generate profit even at low coal prices. The great interest among Polish investors confirms their belief in the long-term plans for building a new mine in the Lublin Coal Basin.
Post-IPO activities
The TAILORS Group continues to support the Company actively in its communication efforts. Transparent communication and good relations with local communities, the media and investors are among the Company’s priorities.
We support Prairie on an ongoing basis in communicating the project’s key stages by preparing press releases, organizing meetings with the media and investors and updating the company’s website. We were responsible, among others, for the Company’s strategy of communication in Poland concerning the results of the initial feasibility study of the Jan Karski mine, very important for the Company, and the much-publicized acquisition of the Dębieńsko project in Upper Silesia.