GWR surges on takeover speculation

Golden West Resources is at a loss to explain a share price surge of 92 per cent over the past three trading days as speculation emerges of a possible takeover.

In a reply to an Australian Securities Exchange enquiry today, Golden West said it was not aware of any information that prompted its share price to jump from its closing price of 51 cents on Thursday to a high of 98 cents today.

Trading of Golden West shares have also increased with more than 2.7 million shares traded in today's session as at 15:50 AEDT. Shares in the company last traded at 79c.

Shares in the Osborne Park-based company have been on a dramatic rise since November 5 when it traded at 31.5c, and then received another upward run a week later following news of high-grade hematite mineralisation at its Joyners Find project in the Mid West.

Golden West at the time said it expects to mine Joyners Find, part of the Wiluna West project, before the end of calendar 2010.

Speculation on investor chat room Hot Copper suggest a possible takeover of Golden West by US company Cleveland Cliffs, which last year successfully completed its acquisition of Mid West iron ore miner Portman.