Palmer goes for gold with mammoth mining IPO

MELBOURNE: Billionaire Clive Palmer, a law school dropout who made his first fortune from real estate on Australia's Gold Coast, is driving what may be the biggest initial share sale of a mining company since 2007.

Palmer, 55, aims to raise as much as $3 billion in the Hong Kong IPO of Resourcehouse Ltd, which plans to spend A$10.2 billion ($9.1 billion) to develop iron ore and coal mines in Australia to supply steel mills and power companies in China, challenging producers such as BHP Billiton Ltd.

"Most of our funding comes from the People's Republic of China," said Palmer, referring to Resourcehouse, which this week sealed an investment and sales accord with Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd. "It's the place where we should be."