Goldminer Breaker may be a target of takeover

Breaker Resources Group has become a hot topic in the gold mining industry, with some predicting the $100 million listed group will be the next to be swallowed in a takeover.

Evolution Mining, Northern Star and Saracen Mineral Holdings are all the kinds of companies that would buy it, according to sources, who describe it as attractive due to the good quality and reasonable scale of its main asset.

Goldminers are eager to consolidate but few acquisition opportunities are said to exist in the market.

St Barbara and Sandfire Resources are two companies said to be in need of embarking on an acquisition.

Breaker Resources is a Perth-based with a 6km-long gold system at Lake Roe, 100km east of Kalgoorlie. The Lake Roe Project has two large gold deposits.

Shares listed in 2012 at about 20c and are now worth close to 80c each.

Last month, Ramelius Resources purchased Evolution Mining’s Edna May goldmine in Western Australia for $90m.

The other deal being speculated about in the mining space is what happens to Barrick Gold’s Super Pit goldmine.

Chinese group Shandong Tyan Home was set to buy its stake in the asset for $US1.3 billion but abandoned its offer.

Now the thinking is that the asset will once again be put up for sale, with the widely held view that the most likely buyer would be existing shareholder Newmount.

Meanwhile, Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is said to be weighing the sale of Europe’s biggest aluminium smelter, according to Bloomberg reports.

The news agency said Rio had been speaking with potential buyers for the Dunkerque smelter in northern France, which has an annual production capacity of 270,000 tonnes.

Among the companies competing for the asset are private equity firms.