purchase offer for mt carbine rejected

1 February 2008
The Manager
Companies Announcement Platform
Australian Stock Exchange Limited
PURCHASE OFFER FOR MT CARBINE REJECTED
The Board of Republic Gold (“Republic” or the “Company”) today announces that the Company has
made a substantial offer to purchase of the assets of the Nicholson Group of Companies, that included
the former Mt Carbine tungsten mine and that this offer, with a potential value of $14m, has been
rejected. The exclusive option period that had been afforded to the Company ended at the close of
business yesterday.
Managing Director of Republic Gold, Mr John Kelly said “The Board and staff have spent eight months
investigating this potential purchase and a considerable amount of funds and time on due diligence,
including over 800 metres of diamond drilling, with interesting results. We are bitterly disappointed that
a very generous offer was rejected. The Company had offered the vendor a very fair and reasonable
price that was a mixture of cash, shares and a royalty, with a potential value of $14m which the Board
believed was justifiable to shareholders. Given the technical risk associated with Mt Carbine the
Board’s technical, legal and financial advisors indicated that it was not in the best interests of
shareholders for the Company to increase its offer further by offering an excessive price.”
Commentating on the rejection of the Company’s offer for Mt Carbine, Managing Director, Mr John Kelly
said “The vendor has left the door open for further discussions. The Company has cash reserves of over
$9M which will still be put to good use on its Far North Queensland and NSW projects, in reviewing new
projects (specifically another large project that the Company has been working on) and in recovering its
position with Luzon Minerals of Canada following the aborted merger efforts last year.”
The Company’s other existing exploration projects continue to show great promise and the assessments
for mining developments on the gold projects continue.
In performing the due diligence on Mt Carbine, the Company has purchased an extensive amount of
original data on the project, including many historic reports and hundreds of mine plans and sections
plus the valuable drilling information from the two holes drilled by the Company and metallurgical
testwork information. The Company also interviewed a number of former mine staff to discover that,
apart from the data now owned by the Company, the remainder of the mine’s operating reports and
other information has been destroyed. The information located and acquired is owned by the Company
and will be available for future discussions with the vendor.
Yours faithfully
John Kelly
Managing Director
Republic Gold Limited
For more information, please contact: Greg Barns on 0419 691 846
or John Kelly on 0418 577 759
Republic Gold Limited
ACN 106 399 311
PO Box 2317 Mareeba Qld 4880 Australia
Phone + 61 7 4092 2594 Fax + 61 3 5439 4747 Mobile 0418 577 759
Registered Office: 144 Cobra Road Mareeba Qld 4880 Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
www.republicgold.com.au