Pan Asia Metals is moving ahead with its plans to become the latest ASX-listed company devoted to metals exploration and development in mineral-rich but low-cost Southeast Asia in its quest to develop a vital component for electric vehicles.

PAM, which owns one tungsten projects and two lithium projects in Thailand, on Monday is closing its initial public offering managed by Baker Young and Maqro Capital.

The company announced on Friday it had met the minimum subscription requirement of $4 million.

“Pan Asia Metals is delighted to have delivered a successful offer in these times, and to be listing on the Australian Securities Exchange,” Pan Asia Metals Managing Director, Paul Lock said:

“We look forward to a continuing momentum into a new chapter as a listed company and thank our stakeholders for their support.”

When it makes its ASX debut, tentatively set for September 30, Pan Asia Metals will become the fourth Australian listed company with resource operations in Southeast Asia.

Lynas Corp processes rare earth metals in Malaysia, and Altech Chemicals processes alumina there, while Red Flow Limited is making batteries in Thailand.

The under-explored region has such a lost-cost operating environment that many companies want to process minerals and other products there, PAM executives say.

Pan Asia Metals’ projects are also close to markets elsewhere in Thailand and Malaysia where it would sell its lithium and tungsten.

Lithium is – of course – a major component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars and other devices, while tungsten is widely used in the electronic and aerospace industries.

“PAM has a simple yet highly effective strategy of acquiring and developing low-cost assets in and near the industrial economies of Southeast Asia – Thailand and Malaysia – providing us with greater potential for value-add,” Mr Lock says.

The company is aiming to develop assets that can be positioned in the lower third of the cost curve, he says.

PAM has five and a half full-time personnel in Thailand, including two geologists and a community liaison officer, as it prepares to begin drilling at its Khao Soon Tungsten Project.

PAM has been exploring at the site since 2014 and reconnaissance diamond drilling has found robust widths and grades associated with strong surface anomalies.

The site 600km south of Bangkok in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Southern Thailand was the site of a major underground tungsten mine in the 1970s with as many as 30,000 people working in the field.

PAM’s other assets are the Reung Kiet Lithium Project 70km northeast of Phuket in southern Thailand; the Bang Now Lithium Project in southern Thailand; and the Minter Tungsten Project in the Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, Australia.

The company has strong support from the Thai Government, in particular its Ministry of Industry and Department of Primary Industry and Mines, PAM says.