PNX Metals attracts a suitor, sending shares flying

Cashed-up Kin Mining hands PNX Metals unsolicited, non-binding, indicative merger proposal
PNX Shares climb 30%, touching last week’s previous high on the back of high-grade uranium results from its Thunderball project
M&A activity in junior resources space is hotting up

Special Report: PNX Metals has attracted the advances of WA-based Kin Mining, which has tabled an unsolicited, non-binding, indicative merger proposal for the Northern Territory-focused gold, uranium and zinc explorer.

Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) is cashed up, with $75m in cash and shares, following the sale of selected gold deposits within its Cardinia gold project in Western Australia to Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD).

This cash has been earmarked for a “range of strategic opportunities” and it appears a potential merger with PNX is one of those opportunities.

PNX Metals (ASX:PNX) has been receiving a lot of recent attention on its high-grade uranium ground, after the company received back the uranium rights over a substantial portion of its Pine Creek tenure with the expiration of a 10-year historic third-party agreement with Oz Uranium.

Earlier in February, PNX revealed it had uncovered high grade uranium of up to 10.2% during a review of historic, previously unreported drilling results, demonstrating significant potential to extend the high-grade mineralisation at the Thunderball deposit and to make further uranium discoveries regionally in the Northern Territory.

The Pine Creek region of the Northern Territory, where the Thunderball deposit is located, is renowned as one of the world’s most prolific uranium provinces, hosting the Alligator River, Rum Jungle, and South Alligator Valley uranium fields.

Thunderball and several nearby uranium prospects sit adjacent to PNX’s Hayes Creek zinc-gold-silver and Fountain Head gold projects, which collectively host resources containing 520,900oz of gold, 16.2 million oz of silver and 177,000 tonnes of zinc plus lead and copper.

Not the only potential growth opportunity

Investors seemed intrigued by the news, driving shares up in PNX as much as 30% to an intra-day high of 0.65c.

However, PNX said the talks were at an early stage and remain incomplete, and that there is no certainty that a merger or any transaction would eventuate.

“PNX shareholders do not need to take any action at this time,” the company noted.

For Kin itself, the PNX bid might not be the only opportunity it is considering with the company revealing that it is in early stage talks with several explorers, mainly those with interests in projects in Western Australia that are considered prospective for gold and other metals.

M&A activity is ramping up in the small cap resources space, with Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX) also revealing this week that it is in confidential talks regarding a potential merger with Carnaby Resources (ASX:CNB).

This article was developed in collaboration with PNX Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.