acquisition, page-3

my take from a quick read of announcement
first good points
- no upfront fees
- a 1.75% royalty on all gold production from the tenements, excluding the Merlin after first 250000 ounces
- 0.75% royalty on all gold production from the Merlin tenement, excluding the first 250,000 ounces

unknown costs
- Zero liability to Sipa, with Northern Star to assume all environmental and rehabilitation responsibilities
- (Estimate only) Replace environmental bonds estimated at $445,000
- Grades treated pretty average
- This is from Sip's last annual report re Ashburton site ( There has been no fieldwork over the last 12 months
and Sipa is presently investigating ways of restarting
serious exploration.)

So looking at it quickly so far, my take is Sipa have had enough of it and want out obviously. Newcrest got out of JV as maybe wasn't big enough a deposit or didn't think it viable. Sipa as a company seem to just be plugging along therefore not what I would be looking at in this part of the market.
These companies fortunes rest a lot on the abilities of their Geos and drilling staff. Given that, and the success NST have had and the market hasn't dumped their shares it looks good.
Further thought's would be appreciated
Stoz