Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) has made an all-cash offer for U.S. Silver Corporation (TSX-V:USA) in a bid to scupper its proposed merger with RX Gold & Silver (TSX-V:RXE).
According to Hecla it approached the U.S. Silver board of directors with the offer on July 23, 2012, which prices the company at CDN$1.80 per common share.
Hecla will execute the purchase via an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary.
Hecla claims the offer constitutes a ‘superior proposal’, providing a premium of more than 23% over the closing price of common shares in U.S. Silver on July 24 2012, and a 28% premium over the imputed offer price of CDN$1.41 for the proposed merger with RX Gold & Silver.
U.S. Silver’s board of directors had previously approved a proposed merger with RX Gold & Silver in June, with shareholders scheduled to vote on the matter at a special meeting on August 7, 2012.
2 Comments
Tim
The bid is still superior to what RX intended to make — and U.S. Silver agreed to.
The Recusant
The Hecla offer seems to be a bit shy of fair value, I think. I checked and US Silver has been worth much more recently with a lot of things on their horizon and is just in a slump right now. But it would be a great bargain for Hecla.