from the orp board - is ncm interested?

Newcrest eyeing merger opportunitiesMarch 18, 2009 - 3:29PM
Newcrest Mining Ltd chief executive Ian Smith says the gold miner is searching for merger and acquisition opportunities over the coming year.

"I think the next 12 months is rich with opportunity," Mr Smith told a business lunch on Wednesday.

Newcrest has two teams examining merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities around the globe, Mr Smith said.

One team is looking for opportunities to take over the exploration operations of entry-level gold companies.

"We are actually scouring the world looking at ... any companies that may find themselves in a distressed position that have a really good resource, that they can't develop to the right rate and to the right size because of the profile they find themselves in," he said.

The second team is looking for opportunities to increase production at existing gold mines.

"There are some companies that are producing in the gold industry that are sitting on deposits that really avail themselves of a higher level of production, and for whatever reason they can't get that," Mr Smith said.

Newcrest did not need mergers or acquisitions to maintain its gold reserves, he said.

"We'll only undertake M&A if we see something that is particularly exciting or particularly value accretive compared to our other projects," Mr Smith said.