It is reported that the Chinese investment group Hanlong Mining has its sights set on acquiring more Australian mining companies after winning approval from the directors of Sundance Resources for a USD 1.65 billion takeover.

Barely 16 months after Sundance was thrown into chaos when its entire board was killed in a plane crash and the company new directors have recommended shareholders accept Hanlong improved offer of 57¢ a share.

The offer was 14% better than the 50¢ offered by Hanlong in July and helped lift the Sundance share price by 2.5¢ to 45.5¢ recently. Despite the takeover being rocked by insider trading accusations against several Hanlong employees, the Sundance chairman Mr George Jones said Hanlong was a highly reputable organisation that would become better known in Australia as it sought to build a big resources group' in the years ahead.

Mr Jones said the families of the directors who died trying to progress the Mbalam project supported the Hanlong deal. He said that ''They are all very keen to see the project developed the people who were killed in the air crash basically gave their lives for the project and they want to see the project developed, not become nothing.”

Mr Jones said he would travel to the African nations in October with Hanlong representatives in a bid to finalise the mining approvals, which he said were ''well advanced''.

The comments were echoed by the Hanlong chairman Mr Liu Han who said his company was committed to ongoing investment in Australia and Australian resources companies as we seek to build a global, diversified mining company. If approved by shareholders, the takeover will give Hanlong control of the Mbalam iron ore project which straddles the border of Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Several conditions apply to the deal including a requirement that governments in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo approve the relevant mining conventions within the next eight weeks.

The deal is also contingent on an independent experts report and shareholder approval which means that final approval is not expected until April.

The Sundance deal has also sparked strong fluctuations in the share price of the Perth uranium company Bannerman Resources which is also the subject of a takeover bid by Hanlong.

(Sourced from www.theage.com.au)