S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX: PRU) announced it has acquired a "relevant interest" in a little-known Aussie minerals explorer.
This sees the Perseus Mining share price up 2.2% in afternoon trade on Monday, while the junior ASX gold share is down 10.4%.
Any guesses who the ASX 200 gold stock is targeting?
If you said OreCorp Ltd (ASX: ORR) give yourself a virtual gold star.
OreCorp's key project is the Nyanzaga Gold Project. The pre-development project is located in Tanzania. It has a reported Probable Ore Reserve of 40.08 Mt at 2.02 g/t gold for 2.60 million ounces of gold.
Here's what's happening.
ASX 200 gold stock snapping up shares
Perseus Mining reported it has acquired 15.03% in OreCorp as "a strategic equity investment".
"Perseus continues to assess and, where considered commercially appropriate, deploy its reserves of cash, bullion and undrawn debt facilities totalling approximately US$900 million," Perseus executive chairman Jeff Quartermaine said.
He noted that the ASX 200 gold stock is pursuing opportunities that complement its existing asset portfolio and organic growth program.
Quartermaine added:
Acquiring the 15.03% interest in OreCorp via this share acquisition is a strategic investment for Perseus. It provides an investment in an attractive African gold project located in a jurisdiction that has a long and successful history of gold mining.
Perseus said it would welcome the opportunity to engage with OreCorp to expedite and streamline the development of the Nyanzaga Gold Project.
"Perseus has the ability, should the opportunity arise, to deploy its engineering, development and operating expertise and balance sheet to meaningfully contribute to the successful development and operation of this project," Quartermaine said.
The ASX 200 gold stock also revealed that it intends to use its shares to vote against the Silvercorp Metals Inc (NYSE: SVM) takeover scheme at the upcoming OreCorp scheme meeting. That meeting is scheduled for Friday, 8 December.
This could explain why the OreCorp share price is sliding today, with Silvercorp having offered a total implied consideration of 54.3 cents per OreCorp share.
