Presumably, as the new JV partner PDN has been able to look in...

Presumably, as the new JV partner PDN has been able to look in detail at Valhalla economics and hence I find a bid encouraging because it shows that at least one INFORMED party thinks the current SMM price is more than justified.

A scrip only exchange is rather negative to me as an SMM holder but allows PDN to avoid a careful valuation of SMM and so the argument comes down to
a) who is the best operator
and
b) what value PDN has outside Australia to attract SMM shareholders.

Of course Eggers will fight. Eggers gets the bums rush and loses CEO salary if takeover succeeds, not to mention emotional commitment from past 15 or more years effort. However, published papers state that SMM directors opinion against PDN bid is unanimous and so not just Eggers' opinion but also that of the independent directors.

Given that Eggers has no proven production or marketing experience (so far as I am aware at CEO level), I have to give PDN the nod on point a). As for b), it seems a mixed bag. Given risk factors with Africa, I think PDN's resources are more likely to be diluting but balanced against that are its supply contracts. The lack of hard information and analysis re its existing operations in PDN's offer documents is very disappointing and does indicate an opportunistic bid as per SMM's comments.

I agree, that with current interest in uranium some other company may well join in the bidding and the QLD/Labour change in political thinking only helps with this. Nevertheless, in the total world picture, the proven resources at Mt Isa are still not large, albeit they will make a substantial contribution to PDN.

I am still holding out for a better deal. Even if Wayword is right, and the offer is closed with limited acceptance, the upward movement in price of uranium should leave the door open to further interest at a later date. The price shows no sign of levelling off with TradeTech now indicating a (delayed) spot price of $95/lb up from $85 at the end of Feb. In the absence of an open market, can I assume that the U3O8 price reflects a real price/demand rather than a predominantly speculative one?

No sign of bid from a major and the more SMM shares that PDN picks up the more likely it is that any such bid will be for PDN rather than SMM.