Could Two of Our Portfolio Companies be Acquired as a Package Deal?

That would be cool

The general story:

In a resource-rich zone of a favorable mining jurisdiction, a silver explorer drills some impressive holes, attracting the attention of a mid-tier miner with adjoining claims. The mid-tier makes a bid for the explorer but is rebuffed.

Eventually, the two work things out via a strategic investment by the former in the latter, and the process of defining a viable resource continues. Most observers assume that the mid-tier will eventually buy the explorer.

Then, right next door, another explorer starts reporting blockbuster results. Investors bid its share price up, and “district scale” starts being tossed around to define this part of the zone.

Now there’s speculation about the mid-tier buying out both of the explorers to build a local empire. And — wilder still — if you look at the map (see below), it’s easy to envision one of the mega-miners operating nearby just swooping in and buying both explorers and the mid-tier’s property.

It’s an intriguing prospect (no pun intended) since the two explorers are in our Portfolio, and I own shares of the mid-tier.

Now for the specifics: