Gemfields PLC (LON:GEM) was the subject of an ‘unsolicited’ offer from major shareholder Pallinghurst on Friday to acquire all the shares it doesn’t already own.
Under the terms of the offer, each Gemfields shareholder will be entitled to receive 1.91 Pallinghurst shares.
Based on the closing price of Pallinghurst shares on May 17 and exchange rate of R17.14 to £1, this values Gemfields at around £211.5mln or 38.5p a share, which is effectively at a nil-premium.
In a brief statement, Gemfields said Pallinghurst had not "engaged" with the firm with respect to the bid and the board advised its shareholders to take no action at this time.
New management at Stratex International plc (LON:STI) has signalled a change of focus with a reverse takeover of Aussie-listed but Brazil-focused gold miner Crusader Resources Ltd (ASX:CAS).
Crusader has two advanced gold projects in Brazil, Borborema and Juruena, with combined JORC-compliant resources of 2.7Moz Au, as well as the Posse iron ore mine.
The share based-deal values Crusader at £31.1mln (A$54.2mln) and will see its shareholders end up with an 81% stake in the enlarged company.
Over in Turkey, Ariana Resources plc (LON:AAU) has received more indications that the gold resource at Kiziltepe is larger than thought with assay results from a site to the west of the mine.
Kiziltepe started production in March and the new site, Kiziltepe West, is 4km away by road.
Ariana and its joint venture partner Proccea have been exploring the surrounding areas to increase the mine life and the Kiziltepe West deposit has the potential to do just that, it said.
Nearer to home, Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) has started detailed discussions with a number of new offtakers for its polyhalite fertiliser it told analysts at a visit to its site in Yorkshire last week.
Richard Knights, at house broker Liberum and one of the those that visited the site, said Sirius is now undertaking multiple, detailed conversations with major potential offtakers.
Progress on offtaking is the main catalyst to further stock re-rating, he added, but said the mood had been transformed since Sirius completed a US$1.2bn financing last year.
Shares in Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP) soared this week after it signed a deal with giant Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM), which it said could “accelerate the realisation of the potential value” of the Ernest Giles Project in Western Australia.
The New York-listed group has been granted exclusive access to the tenements and exploration database for six months and has the right of first refusal should the Greatland opt to sell or joint venture the asset in that period.
Newmont will use certain “proprietary exploration methods” to unlock the potential of Ernest Giles, which covers 1,800-square kilometres of virtually unexplored greenstone belt and is host to a number of potential targets.
Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) also zipped higher after the explorer completed its initial drilling programme at its Concordia copper project in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The programme was initially supposed to comprise up to six reverse circulation drill holes, but Galileo ended up drilling 14 holes in the Homeep and Shirley trends totalling 2,170 metres.
The first set of analytical results on the samples is due by the end of this month (May), while a second set is expected by the end of June.
Even without the results to hand, the fact that six holes on the Shirley trend yielded visible copper mineralisation in the drill chippings is an encouraging early sign.
And finally, Lithium explorer Bacanora Minerals Ltd (LON:BCN, CVE:BCN) has strengthened its board as it pushes ahead with feasibility studies at key projects, Sonora in Mexico and Zinnwald in Germany.
Joining as non-execs are Andres Antonius, based in Mexico City and a country specialist and former government adviser, while Junichi Tomono is head of the Japanese trading giant Hanwa Co, which recently signed an offtake deal with Bacanora.
They replace James Leahy and Kiran Morzaria.
Bacanora added that the feasibility study at Sonora should be complete by late 2017.