Liontown shares spiked at $2.79 per share on Tuesday while rumours swirled, before cooling to $2.72 at close.

The exact origins of the rumour are unclear, but were reported by many in the media including Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk, which speculated that Wesfarmers, SQM, and South32 and Fortescue Metals may have been logical bidders.

But Liontown told the market that it has not received any takeover proposal, including any non-binding indicative proposal.

The ASX is understandably jumpy at the prospect of a Liontown takeover. In March, Albemarle submitted a non-bonding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of Liontown Resources – a battery metals exploration and development company – for a cool $5.2 billion.  

The deal comprised $2.50 per Liontown share in cash, representing a 69 per cent premium to Liontown’s 30-day volume-weighted average price.  

The Liontown board unanimously rejected this offer on the grounds that $5.2 billion offer substantially undervalued the company.  

The company cited its Kathleen Valley lithium project, about which the company said there are few other lithium assets of comparable “scale, quality and mine life”.  The company forecasts the Kathleen Valley project to become Australia’s biggest lithium mine. 

The Kathleen Valley project in WA is Liontown’s flagship lithium asset. The company projects a three million tonnes per annum throughput rate when production starts in mid-2024.  

The board observed that the Albemarle proposal did not reflect the value of this asset. 

At the time, Liontown’s shares jumped from $1.54 per share to $2.57. Share price has since been steady around the $2.70 margin for over a month.

Since the rejection, Albemarle has been snapping up a stake in Liontown through on-market purchases and holds just below five per cent in the company.  

Australian Mining.

In February, Sibanye made an off-market takeover bid for New Century, which detailed Sibanye acquiring up to 100 per cent of the fully paid ordinary shares at a price of $1.10 cash per share.

Sibanye cited changes in strategic direction and decline in shareholder value as the reasons behind its takeover bid.

At the time of its February offer, Sibanye held a 19.9 per cent interest in New Century and had been its majority shareholder since 2021.

In March, New Century’s board urged its shareholders to accept Sibanye’s offer as it was unlikely that a competing offer would be brought forward, since Sibanye now owned a 73.41 per cent interest.

New Century have now announced the offer made by Sibanye is currently scheduled to close May 15, and Sibanye intend to complete the compulsory acquisition procedure in respect of the New Century’s remaining shares according to the timetable set out in the Corporations Act 2001.

“Accordingly, all remaining shares in New Century that have not been validly accepted into the offer by 7.00pm (Sydney time) on Tuesday, 2 May 2023, will be compulsorily acquired by Sibanye Australia,” New Century’s announcement said.

“Compulsory acquisition will be on the same terms as those offered by Sibanye Australia under the offer, which means that remaining shareholders will receive $1.10 cash per New Century share.

“New Century will shortly send a letter to remaining shareholders advising how to claim that consideration.”

Australian Mining.

“This acquisition strengthens BHP’s portfolio in copper and nickel and is in line with our strategy to meet increasing demand for the critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels to support the energy transition,” BHP chief executive officer Mike Henry said.

“Combining our two organisations will provide options for growth, bring new talent and innovation to unlock these resources in a sustainable way, and deliver value to shareholders and communities.”

The takeover will allow BHP to focus on safe and reliable operation of the Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena assets.

This week OZ shareholders received $28.25 per OZ share, marking the implementation of the scheme of arrangement. This follows approval of the $9.63 billion deal by the Federal Court earlier this month.

The revised offer was an increase on the original $8.4 billion offer made in August 2022.

OZ Minerals has a number of operations in Brazil, including the Santa Lúcia iron oxide copper-gold mineral deposit, the Antas copper-gold mine, and CentroGold, one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in Brazil.

The acquisition gives BHP access to the company’s significant portfolio of future-facing minerals – namely copper and nickel – that are vital to the world’s push for clean energy.

In its final ever quarterly report, OZ Minerals produced 31,362 tonnes of copper and 46,722 ounces of gold.

“As this is the final production report from OZ Minerals, the board and management would like to thank all our stakeholders for their contribution to the company’s success,” OZ Minerals chief executive officer Andrew Cole said.

BHP has indicated that it intends to retain the majority of OZ Minerals’ workforce, particularly at Prominent Hill and Carrapateena.

Australian Mining.

The Henderson lithium gold nickel project covers a 800 square kilometre area along the central section of the Mt Ida/Ularring Greenstone Belt, and is 50 kilometres northwest of Menzies in the eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

The joint venture between Venus Metals’ subsidiary and IGO’s subsidiary concerns IGO progressively acquire up to a 70 per cent interest in the project by incurring $4 million of exploration expenditure and reimbursing Venus Metals a million dollars.

Other specifications of the deal include IGO’s subsidiary solely funding all joint venture expenditure until a pre-feasibility study for the Henderson project is complete.

If the pre-feasibility study is finished, IGO’s subsidiary would have the right to acquire Venus Metals’ subsidiary’s 30 per cent interest in the project. This would be based on a price in relation to fair market value less an apportioned aggregation of IGO subsidiary’s expenditure incurred concerning the project.

The deal states if IGO’s subsidiary choose to not acquire the 30 per cent interest, the two parties would continue to be associated in the joint venture.

Venus Metals’ managing director Matthew Hogan said he is thrilled to have cemented this deal.

“We are thrilled to have cemented a further arrangement with IGO Limited regarding nickel and lithium exploration at our Henderson project in an emerging combined nickel and lithium province, following the discovery of significant spodumene near the historical Mt Ida gold mine located directly north from the project,” Hogan said.

The joint venture concerning the Henderson project follows a 2022 joint venture with IGO in relation to the Bridgetown-Greenbushes exploration project located next to the Greenbushes lithium mine.

Australian Mining.

This marked the union of two Jakarta offices now operating as one. The office consists of 50 employees from the mining and cement industries and an equal gender distribution.

Approximately 60 people attended the opening event, including guests from the Indonesian Danish Embassy, along with FLSmidth’s Australian leadership team.

The ceremony included an official ribbon cutting, speeches, office tour, Tumpeng cutting and a traditional Iftar dinner as the opening took place during the month of Ramadhan and many people were fasting. Thus, dinner was served at the time of breaking the fast.

Tumpeng is an Indonesian rice dish traditionally served in ceremonial events due to its purposeful meaning – symbolising gratitude, togetherness, wealth and high values.

FLSmidth is a flowsheet technology and service supplied to the mining and cement industries. The company’s solutions help the industry improve operational performance, lower costs, and reduce environmental impacts.

Australian Mining.