PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Metro Mining has responded to fellow-listed Moly Mines’ offer for Gulf Alumina, in which Metro holds a 39% interest, saying that some of the conditions of the transaction will be difficult to satisfy.
Metro pointed out on Friday that Moly Mines is a controlled subsidiary of the Hanlong Group, and had been suspended from trading on the ASX since April 2014.
Moly Mines this week set its sights on Gulf Alumina, offering shareholders a combination of A$0.46 in cash and 1.4 options for each share held.
Moly Mines is hoping to advance Gulf Alumina’s direct shipping ore bauxite project, in Queensland, where a definitive feasibility study recently supported an initial three-million-tonne-a-year production rate, increasing to five-million tonnes a year, subject to market conditions.
Moly Mines said it would progress the project "as soon as possible", noting that environmental approvals were at an advanced stage.
Metro said on Friday that while the Moly Mines offer was highly conditional, the offer recognised the potential and value of bauxite projects in the Skardon River region of Cape York, including Metro’s own Bauxite Hills project.
Metro in late 2015 made a failed play for Gulf.
The company said that its key focus continued to be the near term development of its own projects, while it remained "open to bringing about the logical combination of Metro and Gulf’s projects" to unlock synergies and commercial benefits.