Yahoo Business News is reporting that “South American-focused precious metals firm Hochschild Mining said on Tuesday it planned to float shares on the London Stock Exchange next month.”

Executive Chairman Eduardo Hochschild said : “We have a strong project pipeline and also plan to maximize the potential of our existing operations.”

The company, which produces silver and gold, said in a statement it would seek to raise an unspecified amount of money to finance its Latin American growth strategy.

Yahoo comments : “Hochschild said it planned to increase annual production to approximately 50 million silver equivalent ounces, or 830,000 gold equivalent ounces, from existing operations and development projects by 2011. In 2005, Hochschild produced 10.5 million ounces of silver and 232,000 ounces of gold at a cost of $2.6 per ounce of silver and $170 per ounce of gold.”

This is yet another example of the worldwide trend of listing in London to avoid U.S Sarbanes Oxley regulations and European bureaucracy.

Why wouldn’t the LSE want to stay independent?