July 15 (Reuters) - Canadian gold and copper miner Aura

Minerals ( ORAAF ) said on Tuesday it plans to raise about $196.4

million from its U.S. initial public offering.

The company had said last week that it was preparing to list

its shares on the Nasdaq. It said on Tuesday that it plans to

sell 8.1 million shares in the offering.

Many foreign companies list in the U.S. to secure higher

valuations and tap deeper capital markets.

Aura said that it intends to use the proceeds from the IPO

for exploration activities and to provide incremental liquidity

and financial flexibility to support the execution of its

current strategic growth initiatives.

Founded in 1946, the gold and copper mining company is

focused on project development and operations in the Americas.

BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs are serving as global

coordinators for the offering, while BTG Pactual and Itau BBA

are acting as joint bookrunners.