ConsMins to compulsorily acquire Titan

Consolidated Minerals Ltd has announced it will compulsorily acquire West Perth-based nickel explorer Titan Resources Ltd, having purchased 90.4 per cent of stock in the company.

Titan, to be incorporated into Consolidated subsidiary Consolidated Nickel, holds nickel tenements of up to 227 sqkm in Kambalda and farms out its Carr-Boyd mine to Yilgarn Mining Ltd.

Consolidated made its first takeover bid in April, when it held a 19.9 per cent interest in the company, and made an offer of one Consolidated share for every 35 Titan shares held, valuing Titan shares at 7.77 cents. It later bettered the bid, to one of its shares for every 27 Titan shares held, valuing Titan shares at 10.1 cents each.

Consolidated managing director Rod Baxter said the acquisition was a boost to the company's nickel growth strategy in the region, representing significant development and production opportunities and helping the company to develop multiple ore production services.

The full text of a stock market announcement from the company is pasted below

Consolidated Minerals Ltd (ASX: CSM, AIM: CNM, FSE: CMN) has taken a significant step forward with its nickel growth strategy in the Kambalda region of Western Australia. Today Consolidated announced that it will proceed to compulsory acquisition of remaining shares in nickel explorer Titan Resources Limited (ASX: TIR), having increased its relevant interest in Titan to 90.04% under the takeover offer by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Consolidated Nickel Pty Ltd.

By acquiring in excess of 90% of Titan shares, Consolidated is now entitled, and intends to proceed after the offer period closes, to compulsorily acquire the remaining Titan shares on issue.

The offer period closes at 5.00pm (WST) on 31 August 2006, which gives remaining Titan shareholders the opportunity to accept the offer, and avoid delays in the issue of the offer consideration, prior to the compulsory acquisition process.

Following the compulsory acquisition process, Consolidated will complete the integration of Titan's assets and staff into Consolidated Nickel Pty Ltd.

Consolidated's Managing Director, Rod Baxter, welcomed the achievement of the compulsory acquisition milestone. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Titan shareholders who have accepted the offer and welcome them as shareholders of Consolidated Minerals," Mr Baxter said.

"The acquisition of Titan represents an important boost to our nickel growth strategy in the Kambalda region, complementing our existing production and exploration assets through the addition of a strategic 227sqkm tenement position in the Widgiemooltha area which contains nickel resources totalling approximately 123,000 tonnes of contained nickel in eight separate deposits," Mr Baxter said.

"These nickel projects, including the Munda and Armstrong deposits, represent near-term development and production opportunities which will significantly enhance our project pipeline in this world-class nickel belt," he added.

Mr Baxter said the recent success of the Company's newly commissioned ore sorter at its Beta Hunt/East Alpha operations at Kambalda, which has achieved an increase in ore grade and reduction in ore volumes through waste rejection, had important implications for the future development of the Titan resource base.

"The acquisition of a substantial resource base across the Titan portfolio underpins our strategy to develop multiple ore production sources, in parallel with our ongoing efforts to enhance and optimise production from our existing operations," he added.