Lonmin Finishes AfriOre Takeover

Lonmin’s (LNMIF-O, LMI-L) all-cash offer for AfriOre (AFO-T, AFO-L) has succeeded, attracting 94% of AfriOre’s shares.

Lonmin said 49.4 million shares had been tendered to the bid, which valued AfriOre at $496 million. The tender of 94% of outstanding shares represents 87% of the fully diluted capital of the company.

Lonmin extended its offer to mid-day on Feb. 28 to allow further tenders to the offer.

The takeover gives Lonmin control of AfriOre’s Akanani platinum project, on the northern limb of the Bushveld intrusive complex in Limpopo province, South Africa. Akanani’s inferred resource is estimated at 249 million tonnes grading 1.8 grams platinum, 2 grams palladium, 0.2 gram rhodium, 0.2 gram gold, 0.24% nickel and 0.14% copper. The project is at the stage of a prefeasibility study.