Iamgold, silly or stealthy?Iamgold not ruling out acquisitions, will stick to gold:
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Gold miner Iamgold is looking to spend its growing cash reserves on brownfields expansions and developments around its existing mines, but that does not mean the company is not in the market for acquisitions,CEO Steve Letwin said on Thursday.
.“We are not going to rule out acquisitions, but it just means that weare not dependent on them,” he told analysts on a conference call.
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Areas of interest include West Africa, Suriname and Canada, as well as Colombia, Letwin said.
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Iamgold is benefiting from a combination of rising production and surging gold prices, and expects to have a cash position of around $1,1-billion by the end of July, after closing the sale of minority interests in two Ghanaian mines to partner Gold Fields.
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The group, which has operations in Burkina Faso, Suriname, Canada,Botswana and Mali, will probably look at acquisitions in the range of $300-million to $500-million, and will focus on earlier-stage exploration and development assets with the potential for low costs,Letwin said.
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https://www.miningweekly.com/article/iamgold-not-ruling-out-acquisitions-but-sticking-with-gold-2011-05-12.
Iamgold has previously stated that they are not interested in a minority interest in a gold mine. So their 10% interest in Oromin is looking a little out of sync with their strategy. Either they sell or buy 100%, However, no way will they get the OJVG project for $500 million. Bidding will start at a minimum of $1 billion. If not, Oromin should give any lowball bidder the finger & keep drilling & making plans for production by themselves. Continuing with this scenario, before the end of the year Oromin will have amassed enough obvious blue sky potential that any geologist or smart miner will see a minimum of 8 to 10 million ounces. By then, the bidding will have to start at $2 billion.
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With management's poor promotion possibly some potential bidders don't know much about the project. Iamgold certainly knows all about happenings at Oromin with their 10% investment & their main West African exploration office in Dakar, Senegal. Iamgold, in spite of their investment never publicly mentions anything about Oromin. Stealthy, yes. Sneaky, yes. Silly, yes. They better get moving, or they will end up with a nice profit on their investment but someone else will end up with the project.
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For a time, after Randgold didn't take advantage of their sky-high stock price to make a bid, I thought Iamgold would be the perfect buyer for Oromin. I have now grown tired of their silliness. I will not shed a tear if someone else gets the project and look forward to a nice bidding war which they will probably lose.