El Salvador lawmakers overturn mining ban Bukele called absurd
El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban all forms of metals mining in 2017.
Shares in Canadian copper producer Inmet Mining (TSX:IMN) surged a staggering 17.7% in Wednesday trading following the company’s announcement that it had rejected a takeover bid from First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM).
The Northern Miner reports that Inmet had received an unsolicited bid from First Quantum on November 25 proposing acquisition of the company at a price of $70 per share via the payment of a mixture of cash and shares.
First Quantum, which operates copper-gold mines in Africa and Australia, had previously made a private unsolicited bid in late October priced at $62.50 per Inmet share, during which period Inmet itself was preoccupied with an abortive bid for Panamanian gold miner Petaquilla Minerals (TSX:PTQ).
First Quantum’s latest offer at $70 per share represents a 30% premium to Inmet’s closing price on November 23, the final trading session just prior to the offer, and would have comprised a total cash payment of $2.461 billion and 112.679 million First Quantum shares.
Toronto-based Inmet operates three fully-owned copper mines in Turkey, Spain and Finland, and is currently in the process of building the Cobre Panama mine in Panama.
