Monsters of Rock: Musgrave says take no action on gold takeover, iron ore hits US$110 and FMG back chasing the Gaines

Gold explorer Musgrave Minerals tells shareholders to take no action in response to $177m Westgold scrip bid
FMG brings back Elizabeth Gaines in part time executive role – at $1.265m a year
Materials up 1% as commodities rise and iron ore hits US$110/t

Musgrave Minerals (ASX:MGV) has told shareholders to take no action after Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) lodged its Bidder’s Statement for its $177 million offer.

The deal would see Westgold take control of Musgrave’s more than 900,000oz Cue gold project within trucking distance of two of the ~250,000ozpa gold miner’s Mid West mills.

That is if 50.1% MGV shareholders jump and buy into the deal before the target’s board has had its say, trading their shares for Westgold stock at a rate of 5.37 to 1.

By Westgold’s account it was trying to sort out something friendly with the neighbouring explorer, whose project includes the prized Break of Day discovery, one of the few gold deposits on the ASX going upwards of 10g to the tonne.

Then MGV’s shares and trading volumes surged on Monday, prompting WGX to assume a leak and put its 30c per share all scrip offer directly to investors.

Westgold’s pitch is its ability to develop the Cue project without the construction of a new processing plant — expected to cost around $121 million by Musgrave’s latest numbers — will enable the combined entity to capitalise on near record gold prices without the start up financing and capital risks and an improved ESG profile by using existing infrastructure.

Musgrave meanwhile says it will release a target’s statement in the coming weeks and say they are carefully considering Westgold’s offer.

Westgold (ASX:WGX) and Musgrave (ASX:MGV) share prices today:

A cool mil and then some

Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) is back chasing the gains, or Gaines that is, throwing $1.265 million at former CEO Elizabeth to return to work as a part-time executive director.

It comes after a neverending story of flux in the leadership ranks at Twiggy Forrest’s iron ore miner and green energy hopeful over the past couple of years.

Gaines herself stood down in late 2021 and took several months to replaced, initially by the captain of the ship the WA billionaire himself as executive chairman.

Then Mark Hutchison and Fiona Hick were brought on board to run the twin pillars of Fortescue Future Industries and its cash cow iron ore mining business.

Gaines has since August 2022 been getting a few bob from her old employer as a non-executive director and global ambassador, something the company says “has required significantly more time and commitment than was originally anticipated”.

It comes at the same time as long serving non-executive director Jenn Morris, an NED since November 2016 and the chair of the remuneration and people committee since February 2020 steps aside. She called her time at FMG “an enormous privilege”.

Fellow NED Penny Bingham-Hall will replace Morris as the remuneration committee chair.

FMG shares lifted 1.2% as iron ore futures rallied, climbing above US$110/t on the Singapore exchange today.

More support for the property and auto sectors, the latter powering a lift in lithium prices, is boosting sentiment among traders.

“China’s biggest state-owned banks have cut deposit rates in response to Beijing’s call to boost growth,” ANZ’s Mahjabeen Zaman said in a note.

“This comes after Beijing introduced measures to support the property market, such as reducing the down payment on properties and further relaxing restrictions on residential purchases.”

The materials sector was up a handy 1% at the market close, with lithium stocks IGO (ASX:IGO) and Liontown (ASX:LTR) and gold miners Northern Star (ASX:NST) and Evolution (ASX:EVN) among the top performing large caps.