I wonder whether the recent strength in BMN's shareprice is...

I wonder whether the recent strength in BMN's shareprice is because Dattel's companies have sold their stake in EXT to the Japanese. Maybe the market is thinking he will make a play for another uranium miner instead.

The West Australian today

Extract Resources director Stephen Dattels has resigned from the board less than a fortnight after two of the three companies he helms sold their indirect stakes in the uranium hopeful to Japan's Itochu Corp.

In a statement, Extract said Mr Dattels, who was on the board to represent 9 per cent shareholder Polo Resources, had resigned and Polo expected to make an announcement "in due course".

It remains unclear if Polo may have struck a deal to offload its Extract stake or whether it intends to appoint another nominee.

The group has also been linked to rumours of a joint takeover bid for Extract.

Mr Dattels sits on the board of three investment groups, the London-listed Polo and Emerging Metals and the Hong Kong-listed Regent Pacific Group. He was a non-executive director at Extract.

Late last month Emerging and Regent struck a deal with Itochu to sell their stake in Extract's single biggest shareholder, Kalahari Minerals. Kalahari owns 40 per cent of Extract, which is considered its most significant asset.

A Canadian-born lawyer based in London, Mr Dattels made the bulk of his fortune through UraMin, which he founded in 2005 and sold in June 2007 to France's Areva for $US2.5 billion.