The Canadians are blazing the trail as far as 2013 and interesting corporate activity is concerned. First there's First Quantum's bid for Inmet, which hasn't exactly been welcomed with open arms by the Inmet board.
Then there's the ongoing saga of Nautilus, a company which lately has been sinking fast, and which is now the subject of a private bid from a well-known Canadian trader.
In the case of the First Quantum deal, naysayers have argued that the bid undervalues Inmet's 52 billion pound Cobre Panama copper project in Panama, where construction is ongoing.
And up to a point the First Quantum board has agreed. The bid has risen from an initial C$62.50 per share, through C$70, to the final C$72 offer that was mailed to shareholders last Wednesday.
Both sides have sent rude letters to each other, and First Quantum has now accused Inmet of trying to sell a stake in Cobre Panama out from under it, before the hostile bid can complete.
All's fair in love and war, but it's interesting to note that the reports of this development in the Canadian press cite Inmet shareholders as the source, so there's clearly appetite for the deal from shareholders, even if the directors are less keen.
After all, First Quantum is no mean operation itself. Maybe it is being aggressive on price, but this is a company that's expanded with huge success over the past ten years, and gone from being worth a few tens of millions to being worth several billion.
By a rough and ready reckoning, it's more than a twenty bagger, allowing for share splits and other things along the way.
Inmet has also added value over the past decade – around seven times. But its investors may now calculate that First Quantum's greater pace of growth may be worth hitching onto. One major investor has already said as much in public. And, as one UK broking house compares First Quantum to Xstrata in earlier days, it'll be interesting to see what the others do.
As for Nautilus, anyone who wants to go undersea mining now, when even mining on land is getting hard and harder to finance, certainly has a lot of nerve. Nautilus's website is slow and ponderous, which is more than can be said for its mining operations, which have failed to gain any traction at all despite lots of huffing and puffing about fancy underwater gizmos.
No wonder Nautilus's shares have plunged in value over the past few years. It may be cheap, but it's hardly cheerful, so good luck to the bidder, Mr Bailey, and all who sail with him. At least he's keeping things interesting in the mining world, and we will continue to keep you up to speed here on Minesite.
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