The deal was led by Patersons Securities and may return at a later date. Cape Lambert will not feel too hard done by, as it paid only A$40m for the mine as part of its A$135m acquisition of assets from CopperCo.

In December last year, mining firm Talison Lithium also pulled its up to A$196m IPO, managed by Macquarie. That deal could still be resurrected if the All Ordinaries index picks up.

The accounting firm forecasted that a large part would be raised through IPOs, and that London would increase its market share of mining IPOs thanks to “unrivalled corporate governance and the transparency that this provides.”

“Once confidence returns to markets, there will come a point where the risk-weighted returns from investment in exploration projects will exceed the cost of capital,” said Gerry Beaney, head of capital markets at Grant Thornton UK.” At that point we can expect to see renewed IPO activity on AIM and on other world markets”.

E&P activity has already been notable this year through small placings on AIM. Gold is also in focus with Turkish mining group Koza Gold due to price its TL828m (US$556.6m) IPO this Friday and expectations of a multi-billion dollar fundraise by AngloGold Ashanti.

The largest mining deal currently in the pipeline for London is a US$1.5bn GDR offering by Russian coal and energy generation group SUEK, which is scheduled for the second quarter.