This article only represents the author's own views.

As 2025 kicks off, we’ve been prospecting for hidden gems to bring you from the small flood of year-end IPO applications, mostly in Hong Kong but also a few in the U.S. Among those, a Hong Kong listing application from tungsten miner Jiaxin International Resources Investment Ltd. stands out not only for its relatively unusual business, but also for where the company plans to sell its shares.

In addition to offering 125 million ordinary shares to investors in Hong Kong, Jiaxin also plans a smaller float of 1.3 million shares on the stock exchange in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, according to a notice on the Chinese securities regulator’s website last month. Jiaxin made its first and only public filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last August, but the CSRC notice means the plan can now move ahead.