very plausible,

First Quantum shuns Barrick Gold's informal takeover offer, Bloomberg reports

Reuters

June 16, 20232:53 AM GMT+10Updated 6 days ago

June 15 (Reuters) - Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) has rejected an informal takeover offer from Barrick Gold (ABX.TO), Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Shares of copper miner First Quantum rose 12% following the news, while Barrick fell 2.7%.

Barrick approached First Quantum in the past few months in a bid to expand its copper portfolio, the report said, but First Quantum did not indicate interest in a merger and declined to enter any substantive talks.

The copper industry is seeing a wave of deals amid surging demand and tight supply of the red metal that is anchoring the global green energy transition.

First Quantum did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Barrick said the company does not comment on market speculation.

A deal between Barrick and First Quantum would significantly boost Barrick's copper output at a time when rival Newmont Corp (NEM.N) is in the process of buying Australia's Newcrest Mining (NCM.AX) to surge ahead of Barrick in gold production.

Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow's had expressed his interest in copper