Hi All,I know this is a bit early for SBL as they have not yet...

Hi All,

I know this is a bit early for SBL as they have not yet jumped through the hoops to finalise the purchase of their 70% stake in the Konongo project with

- 100,000 ounces produced
- 1 million ounces of gold delineated in the measured and indicated JORC

My thoughts are that once this is achieved they will then go back to Mwana and negotiate for the last 20%, as they stated they could in the original release

"Option to acquire 70% of the Konongo Gold Project, with ability to move to 90%". http://www.signaturemetals.com.au/pdfs/MillionOunceGoldProjectOptioned12May09.pdf

So here it is, for some thing IMO that may be way down the track, although the last line is telling............

Africa-focused miners takeover targets high commodity prices drive M&A activity

Andrew Burrell From: The Australian April 30, 2011 12:00AM

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/africa-focused-miners-takeover-targets-high-commodity-prices-drive-ma-activity/story-e6frg8zx-1226047194727

CANADIAN goldminer Barrick Gold's surprise $7.1 billion takeover offer for Perth-based copper company Equinox Minerals is truly a deal for the modern age.

The friendly bid, unveiled this week, spans activity across four continents: the Canadian company managed to trump a Chinese state-owned entity (Minmetals Resources) to bid for an Australian-based copper miner with prized assets in Zambia and Saudi Arabia.

Analysts say mining deals such as this -- centred on bids for companies based in stable countries but with projects in politically risky jurisdictions -- will become more common as the global rush for mineral assets intensifies.

This, of course, is based on the notion that commodity prices will remain super-strong for years to come -- a theory many economists believe in.

Barrick Gold's offer for Equinox comes as Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto wraps up its bid for Sydney-based Riversdale Mining, which has coal projects in Mozambique.

However, much of the future merger and acquisition interest in Australian mining companies is likely to come from emerging economic powerhouses such as India -- which is aggressively sniffing around Australian coal assets as it seeks to shore up supply for its power stations -- and cashed-up China, which is likely to be smarting that it was out-bid by Barrick in the battle for Equinox.

Even before it was trumped this week, China Inc was desperately plotting ways to jump up a few notches on the global M&A ladder in mining. Transactions involving Chinese entities made up only 10.6 per cent of total acquisitions last year.

"There are clear indications that Chinese companies realise they weren't as successful in acquisitions in 2010 as they had been in the previous year," says Mike Elliott, global mining and metals leader at Ernst & Young.

"So there is a renewed effort now for them to increase their win ratio."

Last year was a record for global M&A activity in the mining sector as demand for commodities rebounded following the global financial crisis.

That trend has only intensified during the first four months of 2011, with Barrick's takeover of Equinox -- assuming it proceeds, as widely expected -- ranked as one of the biggest transactions in Australia in the past three years.

"Coal remains hot, iron ore remains hot, copper remains hot and gold remains hot -- that's a fair chunk of the industry," says Tim Goldsmith, global mining leader at PwC.

"This year will be a record for M&A transactions."

After the Equinox deal was announced, investors immediately turned attention to other Australian copper players such as OZ Minerals, PanAust, Sandfire Resources and Anvil Mining as the sector's other potential targets.

However, Foster Stockbroking points out there are few remaining mid-cap copper producers at the moment that are capable of producing more than 100,000 tonnes of copper a year.

Goldsmith, of PwC, says he believes Australian companies developing projects in Africa will be on the radar for potential takeovers in the years ahead, especially as they move from exploration to developing projects.

"What we are seeing now in Africa is, after a number of years of some pretty hefty work by a number of companies, they are actually getting into the mining stage," he says.

"Inevitably that is the stage (at which) the bigger companies are far more comfortable buying assets."

Some other observers are a little more cautious about the rush to Africa and other politically unstable regions. Duncan St John, director of global investment banking at RBC Capital Markets, says recent speculation about the nationalisation of mining assets in counties such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa could damage Australian miners active in those nations, including Extract Resources and Paladin.

Analysts are forecasting that the increased M&A activity in mining will be driven by commodity prices that, on average, will remain strong for at least the next few years.

"The world continues to underestimate demand and the world continues to overestimate supply," Goldsmith says. "A reversion back to low commodity prices in a couple of years' time is unlikely to occur -- I see no reason why prices shouldn't stay high."

That view is shared by one of the world's better-known economists, Jeremy Grantham, of US investment management firm GMO. Grantham is known for sounding the alarm on previous price bubbles, including the dotcom boom and the US housing market, but he has adopted a "this time it's different" approach to global commodities.

The investment guru says the world's fast-rising population is placing severe pressure on the price of all resources, but that the growth in efficiency with which resources are extracted is slowing.

He argues that the trend in commodity prices during the 20th century was negative, but over the past decade prices have leapt dramatically and, in real terms, are near the highs seen only during the World Wars and the 1970s oil price shock.

"The probability these price trends are part of the normal volatility around a falling trend are unlikely," says Grantham, who believes the downward trend in commodity prices over a century has come to an end. "From now on, price pressure and shortage of resources, will be a permanent feature of our lives," he says.

If Grantham is right, the boom times for Australian miners -- and for the bankers advising them on M&A transactions -- are only just beginning.