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Gold/Mining/Energy : ARP - V Argentina Gold -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tanoose who wrote (2736)	2/14/1999 6:10:00 PM
From: Douglas	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3282

Hi Frank,FWIW here's my perspective. You're right about Major's seeking producing assets which bring immediate impact to the balance sheet instead of raw properties with lots of capital expenditure and risk. Barrick's original friendly bid of $5.50 was very reasonable at the stage they had made it.The Lundin's refusal to endorse the bid angered Barrick or "Baracuda" as you put it.The puzzling part for me was the ensuing bid at $4.00.How did Barrick expect ARP shareholder's to tender at $4.00 when ARP had already disclosed a friendly $5.50 bid. In my opinion there will not be another competing bid.For one thing no one else has the balance sheet power except for maybe Placer.But Placer has a lot on it's plate right now.Newmount has a newly established relationship with Barrick through their recent exchange of assets.Do you not think that the heads of these companies talk to each other? Did the Lundins forget the POG is sitting at $289?not $389. Do the ARP shareholder's realize the enormous amount of drilling that is required to prove a resource of this nature? What about metallurgy,pre-feasibility,feasibility?Financing? Did Arp shareholder's forget drilling stops for a few months at the end of April? Would Barrick have paid up for this property a couple years ago? Unquestionably. But Barrick is well aware of the state of the gold market and they realize that buyer's dictate the price in this market not the seller's. IMVHO ARP should not have tried to undermine their partner especially for the extra .75 they we're looking for.Arp should have worked out a deal with Barrick,then pursued another undervalued junior,(God only knows there are a few of them out there). No disrespect to anyone who has an opposing view. Douglas.