•  Explorer NTM Gold up +40 % on merger with neighbouring miner Dacian Resources
  • Kada gold project acquisition ‘can be advanced to production quickly’
  • Alicanto Minerals announces maiden 500,000oz gold resource at Arakaka project

The ASX is borked. Here are the resources stocks that jumped before trading was paused due to “market data issues”.

 

Advanced WA explorer NTM Gold (ASX:NTM) is up +40 per cent on a friendly takeover offer from neighbouring miner Dacian Gold (ASX:DCN).

For Dacian and NTM, this tie-up would combine the shallow, high-grade resources at NTM’s Redcliffe project with Dacian’s Mt Morgans Gold Operations.

The deal – one Dacian share per 2.7 NTM shares owned — is worth 0.141c per share for NTM holders.

That’s a 26.1 per cent premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of both companies.

VWAP gives the average price of a stock over a defined period, based on both volume and price.

Dacian and NTM shareholders will hold ~68.4 per cent and ~31.6 per cent of the merged group, which will have an estimated market cap of $285 million.

The NTM board – plus major shareholders Empire Resources Group (13.7 per cent) and DGO Gold Limited (13.6 per cent) — unanimously recommend that NTM shareholders vote in favour of the deal.

Dacian – which has struggled with operational issues at Mt Morgans since production began about two years ago — was down about 1.43 per cent to 34c per share in morning trade.

Dacian Gold (ASX:DCN) and NTM Gold (ASX:NTM) share price charts

 

West African explorer Golden Rim Resources (ASX:GMR) hit “broad zones of deep oxide gold” at the advanced Kada project, a potential acquisition to complement its flagship 2moz Kouri project.

‘Due diligence’ (reviewing of a project before purchase) drilling by Golden Rim hit 18m at 2g/t from surface and confirmed previous intercepts by miner Newmont over the project area.

The project can be advanced quickly, Golden Rim boss Craig Mackay says.

“With nearly 300 previous drill holes, there is an opportunity to calculate a maiden JORC Mineral Resource at Kada in the near-term and then to considerably expand on this mineral resource given the exceptional exploration upside in the project area.

“The company is working to finalise the transaction to acquire this exciting new project as soon as possible.”

Godlen Rim (ASX:GMR) share price charts

 

Alicanto’s (ASX:AQI) main game is the flagship Greater Falun project in Sweden, but its legacy asset – the Arakaka project in Guyana, South America – adds another very valuable string to its bow.

A maiden 500,000oz resource at Arakaka is the first step towards a project with “multi-million-ounce bulk tonnage potential”, Alicanto managing director Peter George says.

“This resource is shallow, the mineralisation remains open in all directions and we already have numerous intersections outside the resource which will form part of the next estimate,” George said.

“We also have multiple walk-up targets with multi-million-ounce bulk tonnage potential that remain to be drilled.”

Alicanto (ASX:AQI) share price chart

 

Up on no news:

In August,  Metalsearch (ASX:MSE) announced a deal to acquire Abercorn Kaolin, which owns the Abercorn high purity alumina (HPA) project in Queensland.

Kaolin’s recent surge in popularity is undoubtedly due to red-hot investor favourite Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN), which is currently up +7200 per cent in two years.

In September, Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN) hit 16-month highs (and then kept going) after noting that Elon Musk’s new battery design is expected to result in a material increase in demand for high-purity manganese.

The company is aiming to start construction of its Czech-based Chvaletice project in 2022.

Metalsearch (ASX:MSE) and Euro Manganese (ASX:EMN) share price charts