This M&A Monday, the Australian Securities Exchange is waiting to see if Larvotto Resources (ASX:LRV) will make a counteroffer to Austral Resources’ (ASX:AR1) bid to acquire Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX).
As reported by Mining.com.au last week, Austral Resources submitted a definitive written and binding proposal through a court-approved scheme of arrangement on Monday 3 August.
The proposal was deemed superior to Larvotto Resources’ bid placed in early June.
With Austral offering a premium of 50.8% to the offer price listed in Larvotto’s bid, Larvotto was offered five business days to submit a matching, equivalent, or superior proposal, with the matching period ending today.
The acquisition will give the winning company holdings in Queensland’s Mount Isa region, where activity is heating up, just a year after Glencore (LSE:GLEN) closed its Mount Isa Copper Operations.
Adding to Leonora
GoldArc Resources (ASX:GA8) has entered a binding agreement to acquire the Niagara West and North tenement package from Regener8 Resources (ASX:R8R).
The package comprises the Kookynie Gold Project, totalling seven tenements, including P40/1506, P40/1513, P40/1515–1518, and P40/1536.
Kookynie sits adjacent to the buyer’s existing Leonora South Gold Project in the Kookynie Goldfields of Western Australia.
The upfront consideration for this sale is valued at $1.5 million in shares at $0.07 each, which will be subject to shareholder approval and a six-month voluntary escrow.
The acquisition will be followed by two tranches of contingent consideration, valued at $500,000 either in shares or cash at GoldArc’s election.
This consideration will be contingent on GoldArc achieving a 100,000-ounce mineral resource estimate at greater than 1.5 grams per tonne gold in tranche one, and a 250,000-ounce resource at greater than 1.5g/t gold in tranche two.
In a separate transaction, GoldArc also acquired tenement application P40/1622, which is located immediately along strike of the May prospect.
This announcement marks the company’s fourth and fifth tenement transactions in four months.
GoldArc Managing Director Paul Stephen says the transaction will “fill an important gap” in the company’s Kookynie tenure, once complete.
“The Niagara West tenements give us high-grade discovery results to build on, and Niagara North adds a genuinely early-stage opportunity with a compelling geochemical anomaly sitting over unexplored bedrock,” Stephen says.
“Combined with our active programs at Eclipse, Whistler, Orion, and Sapphire, this positions GoldArc as the most comprehensive explorer across Kookynie’s Niagara district.”
Northern Territory assets
Sabre Resources (ASX:SBR) has completed the acquisition of 4,000km2 in project areas in the Northern Territory.
Acquired project areas include the East Tennant Ridges Copper-Gold Projects and the North Arunta Gold Project.
The areas acquired lie over potential extensions or repeats of the Tennant Creek Mineral Field (TCMF) — an area that has historically produced 5.5 million ounces of ‘high-grade’ gold and 700,000 tonnes of copper.
A further 1 million ounces of gold and 500,000 tonnes of copper have recently been added to the TCMF resources.
The sale was completed through the 80% acquisition of Brema Resources and North Tennant Minerals.
Sabre has begun the first stage of aircore and deeper reverse circulation drilling across 6,000m at the Kurundi North Project in the East Tennant Ridge Iron Oxide Copper-Gold Corridor.
CEO Jon Dugdale says Sabre is pleased to have completed a “potentially transformational acquisition”.
“Sabre has hit the ground running and has already commenced the first stage of its maiden drilling program at Kurundi North, which is a standout target area for Tennant Creek-look-alike, ironstone-hosted copper-gold deposits under shallow cover along strike from this world-class mineral field,” Dugdale says.
“The acquisitions include a pipeline of projects and target areas, and planning and new drilling permit applications are in place for drilling of high-grade gold targets at the North Arunta Project, following up previous gold intersections that are open along strike and at depth in shallow covered extensions.
“With major ground holdings in one of Australia’s most prospective copper-gold regions, Sabre is well placed to take advantage of its opportunities for new copper and gold discoveries.”
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Mount Isa City Council & GoldArc
