Acacia Mining PLC (LON:ACA) defended its mine plan after its largest shareholder Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) raised concerns about “significant risks” in its Tanzanian operations.
“The company strongly disagrees with a number of statements made in the announcement,” Acacia said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Canada’s Barrick said Acacia’s mine plans were not appropriately risked or supportable and needed revising.
READ: Acacia Mining gets buy-out offer from parent Barrick Gold to resolve Tanzanian dispute
Barrick also said Acacia’s relationship with the Tanzanian government was so damaged that it could no longer function as an independent public company.
The Canadian miner has been negotiating with the Tanzanian government on behalf of Acacia to resolve an ongoing row over unpaid taxes.
Tanzania has accused Acacia of owing billions of dollars in royalties on undeclared exports and has banned the gold miner from exporting gold and copper concentrates since March 2017.
Barrick has made an all-stock offer to buy the 36% of Acacia that it does not already own and believes that the deal is the only credible way to end the dispute.
Acacia on Tuesday agreed to give Barrick a further three weeks to make a firm offer for the company and the extension was approved by UK regulators.
Acacia said on Wednesday that it was surprised by the timing of Barrick’s statement, which immediately followed announcements regarding Acacia’s agreement to grant Barrick’s request for an extension to the deadline for a formal offer.
“The company will provide a detailed response to the relevant aspects of the announcement, as appropriate, in due course,” it said.
Barrick has until July 9 to make a firm offer for Acacia. Last month's proposal valued Acacia at US$787mln, a near 9% discount to its pre-offer closing price.