Oceanagold (OGC-T) company confirmed that it was one of the parties interested in a business combination with Alacer Gold (ASR-T), but Alacer had been unwilling to engage in discussions since February. Oceana, which operates two gold mines in New Zealand and a third in the Philippines, is interested in Alacer's Copler gold mine in Turkey, but is not interested in putting up a fight for Alacer. Oceana has had a rough week. It has faced numerous protests in Vancouver, Ottawa, Washington D.C., Melbourne and San Salvador, thanks to hearings it began in front of a World Bank tribunal on Monday. Oceana is hoping the tribunal will finally grant it a licence to build a gold mine at the El Dorado gold project in El Salvador. The company acquired El Dorado, and the continuing lawsuit, for $10-million last fall, when it took over Catherine McLeod-Seltzer's Pacific Rim Mining Inc. Pacific Rim filed for arbitration in 2012, four years after El Salvador imposed a moratorium on mining. Ms. McLeod-Seltzer had spent the previous several years catering to each and every one of the El Salvadorian government's mine-adjustment demands, but to this day locals continue to argue that a mine would pollute their drinking water and collapse during an earthquake. Protestors are also accusing the company of causing them to have strokes as a result of the stress from the dispute. Pacific Rim raised $50-million for its El Dorado efforts, half of which was raised after the moratorium. Oceana has sunk only $10-million into the property so far, plus additional legal costs; the company has $81.5-million in working capital.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sept 19, '14 - NR
Since February, 2014, OceanaGold Corp. has made a number of approaches to Alacer Gold Corp. seeking to explore the merits of a potential business combination.To date, Alacer has informed OceanaGold that it is not willing to engage in discussions regarding a business combination or a mutual exchange of information with OceanaGold.
As a result, OceanaGold is not currently in discussions with Alacer regarding the terms of a transaction.
OceanaGold would only be willing to pursue a transaction with Alacer with the co-operation of the Alacer board and on terms which would add value to both sets of shareholders. |
