Ribbit was right, I was wrongFrom ribbit's posts, it appears he knew about Clive's interest, if not the price, on Friday.
I was overly influenced by his (Clive's) mis-direction that his interest lay in companies having trouble raising development funds. My bad. Speaking of mis-direction, B2's presenter at the fall gold show in Denver let on that yes, B2 wanted to do a deal and that it was likely to be in Kazahkstan or Finland.
I listened to the conference call and was surprised that none of the half-dozen analysts enquired about the break fee. Kinda tells me that audience sees little chance of this deal not being consummated.
Also on the call, there was reference to 5 years of negotiations. This tells me B2 sat on the sidelines as Bruce issued hundreds of millions on new shares and loans bearing interest of as much as LIBOR plus 7%. I can only observe that Clive must be one heck of a negotiator to be able to sit tight through all that. Today, we see him reaping the reward of that patience. As to the general disappointed reaction of this board to the price, I can commiserate. Seems to me a bargain price for 8 million ounces and probably more. Guess it just goes to show that the location rules out a LOT of potential bidders.