Placer extends offer, advances Pueblo Viejo

Placer Dome (PDG-T), now with more than 31% of AurionGold‘s shares, has yet again extended its unconditional final bid for the Aussie gold miner.

Placer’s offer of 17.5 of its own shares for every 100 AurionGold shares plus A35 cash was set to expire on Aug. 16 at 6:00 pm EST. The offer is now good until 6:00 pm on Aug. 30.

Placer says the extension will allow for AurionGold shareholders to take part in AurionGold’s recently announced, fully franked final dividend of A7 per share for shareholders of record on Aug. 23.

For its part, AurionGold says that fund manager group Colonial First State, which holds about 16% percent of AurionGold, and M&G Investment Management, with about 6%, have both rejected the current offer.

Based on Placer’s closing price on the TSX on Aug15, the offer values AurionGold shares at A$3.34 apiece. The Aussie’s shares ended the Aug. 16 trading session on the ASX at A$3.28.

In other news, Placer announced on Friday that it has begun a feasibility study on the Pueblo Viejo gold deposit in the Dominican Republic.

Under a special lease agreement with the government, Placer initially has four years to come to a production decision, during which time it must spend US$10 million.

A scoping study of the project pegs annual gold production at 400,000 ounces using conventional and bioleach processing and employing a workforce of up to 450 people.

Under the deal, the Dominican Republic retains a net smelter return, a net profits interest plus corporate taxes based on varying profit levels.

The project, 110 km north of Santo Domingo, contains an existing resource of 34.6 million oz. gold and 204 million oz. silver contained in 544 million tonnes of material grading 1.98 grams gold and 11.7 grams silver per tonne. Placer is considering treating the metallurgically complex sulphide ores using a combination of traditional technology and bioleaching.