Cardinal suitor Shandong receives green light from FIRB

Major Chinese gold producer Shandong Gold Mining has secured the key Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval to proceed with its $395m takeover of Cardinal Resources (ASX:CDV).

The all-cash 70c offer, which trumped a rival 66c per share offer from Russia’s Nord Gold, is now subject to a minimum 50.1 per cent acceptance by Cardinal shareholders along with the usual conditions customary for takeover transactions.

Cardinal’s board has unanimously put its support behind Shandong’s offer, which is aimed at securing the 5.1-million-ounce Namdini gold project in Ghana.

However, Nord Gold remains Cardinal’s largest shareholder with an 18.7 per cent stake in the company, which could potentially put the kibosh on Shandong completing the acquisition.

Cardinal Resources (ASX:CDV) share price chart

Growing shallow gold resource

Meanwhile, Focus Minerals (ASX:FML) has upgraded resources at the shallow Beasley Creek deposit within the Laverton gold project in Western Australia by 29 per cent to 3.63 million tonnes grading 2.15 grams per tonne (g/t) for 247,074oz of contained gold.

Beasley Creek and Beasley Creek South are core to the company’s stage-one open pit production plan and now have total resources of 362,835oz of contained gold.

The deposit was mined by WMC in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, with ore processed at Windarra. The open pit was developed to 85m depth producing 88,800oz of gold at a grade of 2.42g/t.

Additionally, metallurgical test work of samples taken from Beasley Creek South has confirmed that fast and high recoveries of gold from both deposits is likely.

This is made even more attractive thanks to the low levels of reagent consumption, which supports the potential for lower operating costs.

Focus Minerals (ASX:FML) share price chart

Drilling uncovers new gold zone

Pantoro Limited (ASX:PNR) has extended the Scotia Mining Centre within its Norseman gold project in Western Australia after drilling intersected a new zone of near-surface mineralisation.

Drilling at the Green Lantern discovery southeast of the existing Scotia open pit, returned a number of wide, ore grade intersections in a zone that had not been previously drilled.

Notable hits include wide, lower grade hits of 16m at 2.61g/t gold and 21m at 2.36g/t gold with higher grade zones such as 3m at 6.09g/t gold that are typical of other orebodies known within the mining centre.

Additional drilling is ongoing at Green Lantern to test for northerly extensions and to infill ore zones to suitable drilling density for resource estimation.