On 23 September 2019, Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed China Hanking Holdings Limited, an iron ore, nickel and gold mining company, announced that its Australian subsidiary, Hanking Australia Investment Pty Ltd, has submitted a non-binding indicative cash offer between A$56 million and A$65 million to acquire the Coolgardie Gold Project (Project) from ASX listed Focus Minerals Limited.
Although the Project was placed into care and maintenance in August 2013, its mining and exploration tenements cover approximately 235 km2 and contain approximately 2.1 million ounces of gold in JORC resources. The Project has a pre-existing gold processing plant with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
However, on 26 September 2019, it was reported by Australian Mining that Focus Minerals rejected the offer, in preference for the company’s existing exclusivity deed with Horizon Minerals Limited, as Horizon provided for greater execution certainty and had already completed due diligence.
