Source: www.smh.com.au/business
Miner minnows bulk up via merger
Barry FitzGerald
November 1, 2006
TANAMI and Michael Kiernan's Monarch Gold have added their names to the list of junior gold companies looking to fill the mid-sized gold producers gap on the stock exchange by bulking up and de-risking their investment appeal through a friendly $170 million merger.
Terms of the merger have yet to be decided but the two companies have already cemented their relationship by Monarch taking up a $2.5 million placement of shares in Tanami (12.5 million shares at 20¢ each — a 1.5¢ a share premium to Tanami's closing price yesterday of 18.5¢).
The placement comes as Tanami suffers a cash drain caused by the delay to production from its new 50,000-ounce-a-year Coyote gold project on the border of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Production was meant to have started in the June half but delays in commissioning key components of the treatment plant have been costing Tanami $3-$4 million a month in postponed cash flow.
Monarch wants to become a 500,000-ounce-a-year producer by 2009. Since identifying the lack of listed mid-tier gold stocks, Monarch has bought the Davyhurst and Minjar gold projects in WA, where production will start once three-year reserve bases are confirmed. It has also merged with Siberia Mining.
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