Shares in Venus Metals Corporation (ASX: VMC) have hit a fresh 12-month high after a takeover bid for the company was lobbed by resources billionaire Chris Wallin on Monday.
Mr Wallin's private company, QGold, is offering 17 cents per share for Venus in an on-market bid, with the target company's shares soaring past the bid price to hit 18.5 cents on Monday morning.
Trade in the shares was robust, with 2.8 million shares changing hands by early afternoon compared with the usual daily volume of slightly more than 200,000 shares.
Large stake already owned
Venus said in a statement to the ASX that QGold would keep the offer open until 16 January 2026, and had already acquired a stake of about 26.4% in Venus.
A bidder's statement lodged with the ASX on Monday said QGold was a private company that currently holds exploration and mining permits in Queensland and Western Australia.
Qgold is also a major shareholder in Rox Resources Ltd (ASX: RXL), owning a 15.8% stake in the company, which Venus itself also owns a 6.9% stake in.
Mr Wallin is also the founder and managing director of QCoal Pty Ltd, which mines coal in Queensland's Bowen Basin across four deposits and also at the Blackwater coal mine in Queensland, producing about 10 million tonnes of coal per year.
Venus, according to its website, "holds a significant and wide-ranging portfolio of Australian gold, copper, base metals, lithium, titanium, and vanadium exploration projects in Western Australia, in addition to owning a 1% royalty over the Youanmi Gold Mine and being a substantial shareholder of Rox Resources Limited''.
In its most recent quarterly report, Venus stated that it had updated the mineral resource estimate at its 90%-owned Bellchambers gold project in Western Australia, with the resource now standing at 31,400 ounces of contained gold.
The company also explained that it had completed metallurgical test work on samples from the project.
Key findings from the leach test work are Bellchambers ore is highly amenable to conventional processing via gravity recovery followed by cyanide leaching. Rapid and high recoveries confirm the mineralisation is non-refractory and with minimal deleterious elements. Both oxide and sulphide material demonstrate strong gravity response and high leach recoveries, supporting a low-risk, conventional gold processing route.
Venus was valued at $33.3 million at the close of trade on Friday, when the shares closed at 17 cents. Venus shares have improved from lows of 5.6 cents over the past year.
