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Don’t get me wrong Super I would be very happy to get a premium over the £5 mark - this will not be decided by us small shareholders and we will have no influence - Odey and Blackrock might have they ever mentioned any figures?

I respect your opinion but I would rather take a deal now than sit within a tiny exploration company with a pile of cash to fritter away. We would be very lucky if the shareprice represented anything like fair value so on this occasion I very much hope ACA do not follow your advice!

I agree that this is all just guesswork but I am pleased that your timelines have shortened Franky. I think I am on record as saying at least £4 probably £5 - I agree that there would no no need for them to pay us more as we would surely be happy with that and I would anticipate Odey would be as well. I think we were just speculating how the figure is justified. To avoid any battle over who did what and when paying a not unreasonable £5 a share for the 34% would cost about £788 million they then fully own the company all it cash assets and reserves. They would then be potentially free to sell a large stake (50%) to the Chinese for shall we guess at £1bn or of course develop it themselves to a tier 1 asset. Aca are owed about $180 million in VAT by GoT and I am sure that will be taken into account with any settlement with the balance of proposed $300 million ie $120 million paid over time. Couple that with a 50/50 split on economic interest going forward and even if an additional 16% nominal holding is then issued to GoT the deal still stacks up to move forward. Put out a face saving no liability - work together for the good of the country with positive attitude and an open accounting system and GoT who need the deal agreed will accept. All guess work I know but nothing outrageous.

To be clear I am not suggesting that they wait until we get back to full production but the offer is calculated assuming we are back to full production. I believe the negotiations will build up now but the offer will come into effect post Jan 1st but not long after. I do not anticipate the GoT to play hard ball and the deal will be close to that identified within the Framework agreement.

Hi Super the offer should be made after/assuming deal with GoT concluded and we were back to normal production only then would a no premium deal be even remotely fair. The RRS deal was much bigger and ground breaking but I expect us to receive a premium- we are only a small bite for newco and we have been suffering for a long time! To avoid legal disputes or conflict they could use the pre dispute price which in my earlier email I suggested was c £5.25 - you can probably be more specific. The question then is should we be happy with that or expect a premium? I think it is unlikely they offer us much less without a dispute (Odey/Blackrock) and potential embarrassment which they will want to avoid. Our price may be low now but I know that you and others including the institutions will have brought it at £5 and above, dispute aside we are a much stronger co now and our prospects are much better.

Pbto - i think your proposal is interesting but probably unnecessary. If the Barrick Group proposal is good enough - they will make an offer for the o/s shares then whatever costs are involved with the GoT be they related to pre or post IPO will effectively be bourne by them as owners. I could see an argument for the pre dispute price being the benchmark (£5.25 ish) but I can’t really see the point in going back any further. As long as the offer is good enough, we, Odey and most importantly the institutions will be happy. As it will most likely be an all share offer I fully expect there to be a window where the SP will rise to the offer price allowing those that want to to exit.

Shares could be allocated prior to the fresh listing in a similar way to that used with the RRS merger. It would only be acceptable to use the IPO price if it was higher than we would otherwise get so it would need to be £6 or £7 plus - can anyone remind us what the IPO price was?

Why do you think it will be a weak deal Franky? Are you seriously suggesting if the offer was 2 ACA for 1 ABX you would say no?

95% of votes cast by RRS shareholders agree to Barrick merger.

As it looks increasingly like we will all be on the same team very soon I hope you will not mind me entering your board to suggest that you have a look at ACA - 64% owned by Barrick and likely to be brought fully into the fold shortly. You know the strengths of MB and therefore please consider how likely he will be to achieve a resolution with the Government of Tanzania. I anticipate the price to at least double from where we are now at £1.69 - probably more.

Sorry MP but I am not Ben. If I were in control of the process then as ABX, I would make an announcement when the agreement with GoT had been reached and suspend the shares pending agreement by ACA shareholders, within the same RNS I would announce an all share offer for the shares that I did not own probably at something like two ACA for one new ABX share. What would you do?

Thanks Airbitrader interesting that this article even mentions likelihood of a ABX share offer. If you are still on the fence then now is the time to buy or just keep watching as the SP is transformed.

Thanks acaciatan and welcome. Seems very clear that MB will waste no time in getting involved to get a resolution that is good for all stakeholders.

Good find dimi - it’s obviously all going to happen, MB is just trying to lay the ground work. The framework agreement is fairly comprehensive and generous without being onerous. If ACA management are to be believed and we have no reason to doubt them, they have not yet been asked to consider a proposal and actually know no more about what is going on than we do - the independent committee must surely include some all all of ACA top brass - the board will be expected to recommend the offer. It comes as no surprise that none of the $300 million has yet been paid - I would have been shocked if it had - no deal is agreed until everything is agreed and signed but I am sure that it will be and then it is just up to ABX to make their offer which MB seems to agree is the logical next step. What the value of the offer is remains to be seen but I am sure it fair and based on our price following agreement with GoT and on what gold we are expected to produce going forward and of course our asset value. Will the shares be suspended following agreement or will ABX allow the dust to settle first? - I know what I would do but either way things are looking good.

I am a little amazed that Blackrock have not started buying already - perhaps they have some agreement with the Shorters to whom they have lent stock? If there is such an agreement then you have to think that time must be running out. Once we break £1.70 I think the SP will rise fairly rapidly to £2 or more but who knows.

Interesting points Super but I do not think RRS would want to or would probably be allowed to buy a stake in ACA and there really would be no point in them making a full offer at this stage even if they were allowed to. Better to wait. They could certainly start talking to GoT about a resolution but the offer for Aca will come from ABX as Barrick Group. I see no chance whatsoever of the London Management team bringing an alternative deal to the table - let alone for them to get shareholder support, which would have to include the 64% ABX stake. Backed by a large player they could work up a counter offer to throw in the mix when ABX make their offer on the basis of preemption rights but I doubt that will happen. I remain confident that our deal will fall somewhere between the £4 and £7 mark we have suggested before as the price will be determined following agreement with GoT which will obviously raise our starting price. We will probably be offered Shares in ABX but the price will rise following the offer to allow those that want to to exit. Once concluded Barrick Group can decide whether to take on Chinese partners or develop what was ACA into a tier one asset - whatever happens we will be very happy.

Most interesting thing I have read when comparing ABX and RRS - ABX have 1300 HQ administration staff - RRS have 7. Enough said.

Great figures out from RRS today. It would be great if ABX made its offer for ACA before the inevitable re-rate of Barrick Group - I anticipate that to be in the order of $2 bn on the RRS deal and the opportunity that creates alone. Anticipate that we will have to wait but console myself on being a full part of great new co. and will be grateful for resolution. If Dems win the lower house then gold may benefit as more uncertainty in the markets but if the Republicans win against the odds then the stock market and $ will rise which would affect gold - it should have little effect on ACA either way for reasons we have previously discussed.

Hi Owls. I wish I had brought onto Ocado as I think they do a great job and have the potential to duplicate their system worldwide - I also think they have further to climb before being bought out by Amazon. I am betting that none of us will be invested in ACA in 12 months as they will have been bought up by ABX. You must have originally been invested when the sale to Endevor was being discussed at £7 or £8 but fell through when they got wind of problems in Tanzania. The subsequent drop to £2.90 odd was when I brought in - too soon as it turns out. I think we will both do very well this time around.

99% of votes cast in favour of merger by Barrick shareholders. “Today marks an important step in our journey of taking Barrick ‘back to the future’,” said Barrick Executive Chairman John L. Thornton. “The combination of Barrick and Randgold will create the compelling gold investment.” Trading anticipated to begin 1st Jan - subject of course to RRS shareholder approval on Nov 7th, which should be as much of a hurdle as is was with Barrick shareholders.