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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR

Party of two at Cardinal could get crowded

ead of Global Mining at the Toronto Stock for Cardinal. Namdini project to the benefit of sharehold-
HExchange and TSX Venture Exchange, Since then Shandong and Nordgold have ers, employees, the local community and all
Dean McPherson says money is starting to matched and exceeded each other’s offers constituencies, ” Nordgold chief executive
flow freely back into mining stocks. for Cardinal, with Shandong’s bids backed Nikolai Zelenski said in a statement.
“Notwithstanding COVID, it has been a by the Cardinal board. When contacted by Paydirt, Cardinal
bumper year; our best year in a long time,” managing director Archie Koimtsidis ad-
McPherson told Paydirt. vised he was not to comment on the Takeo-
Gold stories have attracted a lot of atten- vers Panel decision.
tion and investors appear agnostic on the However, in a statement to the market
jurisdictions in which they deploy capital. Cardinal expressed its disappointment
“Interest in Africa as an investment des- with the outcome and vowed to “explore all
tination for mining and exploration is quite possible contingencies for the benefit of its
high, but we haven’t really seen any jurisdic- shareholders”.
tional bias. I have seen support for projects “Having regard to Shandong Gold’s state-
in Asia, Africa, Latin America; but Africa ment of intention that should a higher com-
does have quite a high representation in our peting offer [to $1.00 per Cardinal share] be
market and a lot of our companies have pro- made or announced, that Shandong Gold
jects there,” McPherson said. intends to increase the cash consideration
Given the familiarity investors and com- under its offer to $1.05 per Cardinal share,
panies on the TSX and TSX-V have with the Cardinal notes that an opportunity exists for
African mining landscape and gold M&A a third party bidder [or a consortium of bid-
activity heating up in West Africa, it will be ders] to make a competing offer for Cardinal
interesting to see if a last minute bidder from at a price in excess of $1.00 per share which
Canada emerges for ASX and TSX-listed would have the effect of freeing Shandong
Cardinal Resources Ltd. Archie Koimtsidis and Nordgold of their respective ‘best and
Cardinal has been a participant on the final’ statements,” Cardinal stated on No-
TSX since mid-2017, with the additional list- In the latest development at the time of vember 18.
ing coming as the company was about to re- print, Russian outfit Nordgold’s on-market At the time of print, Engineers & Planners
lease a scoping study/PEA on the Namdini offer of $1/share was extended by seven Company Ltd made an unsolicited condi-
gold project in Ghana’s Upper East region. days and expected to close on December 7, tional off-market takeover offer for Cardinal
Namdini now hosts gold reserves in the coinciding with the 2020 Ghanaian general at $1.05c/share.
vicinity of 5.1 moz and is a development pro- election. Cardinal advised shareholders to take no
ject ready to produce 287,000 ozpa over at In light of Cardinal’s three applications action.
least 15 years, with an estimated 1.1 mozpa to the Australian Government’s Takeovers
expected in the initial three years of opera- Panel to have its affairs reviewed and con- – Mark Andrews
tions. trol of the company
A capital cost of $US390 million (includ- handled in court be-
ing $US42 million contingency) was guided ing rejected, Nord-
in the 2019 feasibility study, which was gold reemphasised
based on a $US1,550/oz gold price, and it’s standing as best
also included metrics of $US895/oz AISC fit for Namdini.
over 15 years, payback of nine months, pre- Nordgold’s strong
tax NPV of $US1.4 billion and pre-tax IRR presence and vast
of 57%. operating experi-
Sovereign Parliamentary Ratification for ence in West Africa
a mining licence at Namdini, which is valid plus its strong bal-
for a renewable term of 15 years starting in ance sheet are key
2020, has been received with FEED activi- points the company
ties expected to be completed in Q4. believes it has on its
A resettlement action plan (RAP) is tar- side.
geted for completion in Q1, with the possibil- “With both Nor-
ity of production from Namdini a very real dgold and Shan-
near-term possibility. dong’s offers best
However, since receipt of an indicative and final, we hope
non-binding proposal from Nordgold SE that the takeover can
came to light in March after it had upped its now be concluded
stake in Cardinal to 19.9%, a bidding war for successfully and
the dual-listed company has erupted. that Nordgold can
Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd entered provide all appropri-
the ring with an offer – 60c/share in June – ate support to the
opposing Nordgold’s initial 45c/share pitch development of the
Dean McPherson

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