July 15 (Reuters) - Canadian gold and copper miner Aura Minerals ORA.TO 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.

(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

((Preetika.Parashuraman@thomsonreuters.com;))