Allied Gold acquires Gold Ridge in SI

A SMALL gold miner in Papua New Guinea has made a successful bid to purchase the Gold Ridge mine in Solomon Islands which was abandoned in 2000 during the ethnic clash between the Malaita and the Guadalcanal people.
Allied Gold, which began producing gold recently on its Simberi mine in the Tabar Group of islands in New Ireland, acquired the mine from Australia Solomon Islands Gold Ltd (ASG) by purchasing 63.6 million shares at A$1.04 per share.
And in strategic move, the company was listed and began trading yesterday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in Canada.
This was announced all over the world on stock market reports by 2am.
Allied issued a prospectus offering shares to raise C$155 million (K392.6 million). Allied is already listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The dual listing by Allied could not have come at a better time with gold price rallying to its highest level hoovering over US$1,130 per ounce (K3,390/oz) and some speculators say it is likely to go higher to US$1,200/oz (K3,600/oz).
The frenzy is triggered by a weakening US dollar and investors putting their money in gold. India last week purchased 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund which started off the upward spiral of the yellow metal price.
The company said it received approval for the listing on TSX earlier this month, looking to gain better access to a market which was one of the most active in the world for resource companies and particularly gold producers.
It said it was expecting the listing on TSX  to result in an increase in recognition of its underlying value.
The acquisition of the Gold Ridge gold mine will undoubtedly increase the company’s value as it was an operating mine for 22 months when was forced to close.
Production was heading toward 150,000oz a year when it was closed. At the time closure, it had produced a total of 210,000oz of gold between 1998 and 2000. There is an estimated 2.1 million oz of gold contained in the ore body.