The Irish Takeover Panel told Almonty Industries, the group that approached Ormonde Mining with a proposal to buy the Dublin listed company in an all-share deal, in August, that it must proceed with an offer by the end of next month.

The panel pointed out that Ormonde announced details of Almonty’s approach, which was conditional the recommendation of the mining company’s board, on August 9th last.

The panel has ruled that, except with its consent, Almonty must, by 5 pm on January 31st 2014, either announce an offer for Ormonde or announce that it will not proceed with such an offer.

Welcoming the announcement yesterday, Ormonde said it that its board believes that Almonty’s offer lacks both strategic and economic merit.

The company pointed out that it Almonty’s share prices fell by 30 per cent between August 8th, the day befor the approach, and December 17th.