"Its a lithium street party in the Pilbara. Here's the stocks with grounds close to Azure."-4 hrs ago, page-13

Azure Minerals the talk of the town at Diggers

Nick Evans2:13PM August 13, 2023

WA prospector Mark Creasy. Picture: Colin Murty
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After declaring an exploration target that would put the company in the top tier of the next generation of lithium explorers, Azure Minerals was one of the central talking points of last week’s Diggers and Dealers in Kalgoorlie.
The company has been an obvious takeover option for lithium major SQM for some time, with the company sitting at just under 20 per cent of Azure’s register.
Market chatter suggests that SQM was preparing a bid at around $2.30 a share – but last week’s exploration target, of an estimated potential mineralisation of 100 to 240 million tonnes at 1 to 1.5 per cent lithium – ticked the company’s stock up closer to the $3 mark.
But capturing Azure wouldn’t be enough in any case, given legendary WA prospector Mark Creasy owns 40 per cent of the underlying lithium asset.
Word is, however, that WA corporate major Wesfarmers – SQM’s partner in the Mt Holland lithium mine and associated hydroxide refinery – has been looking to open up a line of communication with the Creasy Group as a prelude to extending their relationship with the lithium major into a second WA joint venture.
With Azure valued at around $1bn, it may now be a little rich for either party. And the fact that Creasy’s standard terms for an asset sale include a preference for stock, and not just cash, might also be a confounding factor.
Remember that Azure’s valuation is only based on owning 60 per cent of the deposit, and Wesfarmers’ half-share of any joint acquisition would still be hovering around the $800m mark – and even though Wesfarmers is worth about $57bn these days, issuing anything close to that amount of stock is likely to raise a few eyebrows at the institutions holding the bulk of the company’s blue chip stock.
Further clouding the issue is the presence of mystery German investor Wilhelm Zours and his associate companies – Deutsche Balaton and DELPHI – on the Azure register, with about 12.1 per cent of the company’s stock.
Given its role in confounding Raleigh Finlayson and Genesis Minerals’ attempts to consolidate the Leonora Gold district, Zours’ status on the Azure register is seen as a complicating factor.