RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Weekend Trivia and Mystery? IAU management is not behaving like a company looking to get taken out.
A company looking to be bought out doesn't typically sign joint venture deals as major players interested in buying another company usually like to obtain 100% ownership in all projects and decide for themselves which ones to fund near term, negotiate the terms of what if any partnerships they want to engage in themselves, etc.
Further, this Ruby Hill joint venture is, in my view, Exhibit A of IAU showing its cards in realizing they won't have the cash to fund their multiple projects and are leary of more debt (higher interest rates - provided they can find a lender willing to loan them more money) and/or equity financing (share dilution) to obain more cash that in all likelihood still won't finance all they wish to do. Building gold mining operations are expensive as IAU is discovering and I suspect they had the choice of either selling the whole company or looking for partners. It appears they chose the latter.