evolution to take advantage of consolidation m

More M&A in the gold sector happening with SLR & IGR merging.

This is on top of the other M&A happening just in WA alone: MLX taking over WGR, Zijin Mining taking over NGF, and SBM taking over ALD.
-------------------------------------------------------
Evolution to take advantage of consolidation market

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
6th August 2012

KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) - Gold miner Evolution Mining would continue to be on the lookout for possible acquisition opportunities, executive chairperson Jake Klein said on Monday.

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online on the sidelines of the Diggers and Dealers conference, Klein noted that while the company was currently focused on maximising its existing asset base, there was an upside to the current market conditions.

In an environment where global gold miners were missing production guidance and the costs of operations were increasing, junior companies were finding it increasingly difficult to operate and raise capital in a market where debt was becoming more expensive.

“There will be distressed companies in this environment and investors are growing increasingly tired of putting their hands in their pockets to give more money to juniors,” Klein said.

He noted that Evolution could likely make use of its relationship with gold giant Newcrest, which holds a 33% share in the company, to identify possible acquisition opportunities.

“Newcrest has probably looked at and kicked the tires of every asset in the world. Although there is not formal arrangement, if we could piggy back of their incredible depth of intellectual knowledge, they could point us to projects that could be highly attractive to Evolution.”

Klein noted that while projects in a one-million to five-million ounce range would likely be too small for Newcrest to consider in its own acquisition strategy, such projects would fit well with the Evolution mould.

“Something that is between one- and five-million ounces would be fantastic for us,” he added.

However, Klein added that Evolution had no strict set of criteria for possible acquisition opportunities, but added that the project had to make economic sense.

“The fundamental thing that we need to do is sit a across the table from our investors and tell them clearly why we did a deal and why its good for Evolution.

“We are in a much more selective environment. That is the test; the trepidation that you will have to go through to explain an acquisition to the investor base would be enough to put you off any poor acquisitions,” Klein said.

Evolution itself is the result of the 2011 merger between Catalpa Resources and Conquest Mining.

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/evolution-to-take-advantage-of-consolidation-market-2012-08-06