KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Takeover target Sirius Resources’ MD and CEO, Mark Bennett, on Monday said there was definite opportunity to expand the project portfolio of the demerged S2 Resources, following a merger of Sirius and fellow-listed Independence Group.

Metals miner Independence Group in May announced plans to merge with Sirius, offering Sirius shareholders 0.66 of an Independence share for every one Sirius share held, along with a cash consideration of 52c a share.

The offer was valued at A$1.8-billion.

In addition to the share and cash transaction, Sirius would also undertake a demerger of its Polar Bear and Scandinavian exploration assets, which included the recently discovered Baloo gold deposit, through a demerger scheme of arrangement.

S2 Resources, which would be separately listed on the ASX, would be led by Bennett and would have some A$22-million in cash upon listing. Sirius shareholders would be issued with one share in S2 for every 2.5 Sirius shares held.

On the sidelines of the Diggers & Dealers conference, Bennett said S2, like Sirius, would be a base and precious metals focused company and, while no acquisitions were imminent, owing to a stand-still clause in the Independence transaction, Sirius had been gathering information on the industry as a whole.

“We are certainly well aware that, at this time, there are a lot of smaller companies with half decent assets in fairly distressed situations, so it’s a good time for S2 to come online,” Bennett said.

The Federal Court of Australia recently gave its blessing to the merger transaction, while shareholder meetings have been planned for September 3.

Bennett had, meanwhile, said that offtake agreements for Sirius’ flagship Nova operation were likely to be completed before the conclusion of the Independence transaction.

The Nova nickel mine was expected to deliver about 26 000 t/y of nickel, 11 500 t/y of copper and 850 t/y of cobalt over a ten-year mine life.