Now it looks like AGO is on the aquisition trail in West Africa....

Now it looks like AGO is on the aquisition trail in West Africa. I wonder if Marampa is on their list


Market Wrap - Street Talk
M&A rumours surround red metal strugglers
Edited by Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald
364 words
8 March 2013
The Australian Financial Review
AFNR
First
14
English
Copyright 2013. Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited.


The price of copper remains around $US3.50 a pound and there is a pretty positive outlook for the red metal. But you wouldn't know it looking at the share prices of the country's best-known pure-play copper stocks.

Since the start of November, OZ Minerals is down 27 per cent; PanAust is down 21.1 per cent; Sandfire Resources is down 17.8 per cent; and Discovery Metals is down 61.2 per cent.

These companies have each had their individual issues. But they are also all either perceived by the market as being ex-growth or there are concerns about their growth projects/prospects.

Which is why the rumours about consolidation have started to swirl again: the easiest, most obvious way of addressing a lack of growth or scale is merging with or acquiring another miner.

One potential deal getting an increasing amount of airplay is a merger between PanAust and Sandfire Resources, although OZ's 18.9 per cent holding in Sandfire would make it tricky.

Discovery is also unlikely to have disappeared from radar screens following the decision of Chinese private equity firm Cathay Fortune to drop its $830 million takeover bid for the company last month.

Discovery managing director Brad Sampson has been spreading the word that the company's Boseto mine in Botswana is on the verge of being cashflow positive, which would give potential acquirers some comfort after a difficult ramp-up period.

Elsewhere in mining, Queensland-based minnow Charter Pacific has received interest in its Mauritanian iron ore project from parties out of India and Australia. Pilbara iron ore producer Atlas Iron is understood to be one of the groups which has enquired about the project, which neighbours Xstrata's Mauritanian iron ore assets.

Last September Charter upgraded its potential exploration target from 2.6 billion tonnes to 4.4 billion tonnes with concentrate grade up to 70.43 per cent Fe and mass recoveries of up to 56.1 per cent and high grade banded iron formation sampled above 40 per cent Fe.