Aurum Asset Management declined to comment on talks of a possible strategic tie-up between them and a major player in the mining industry despite widespread market speculation about a tie-up.

Rumors about a possible strategic tie-up between Aurum Asset Management and another major mineral project development and production firm has been making the rounds for the past month and have re-emerged after Aurum Asset Management made a move to further expand the scale and scope of its operations.

“It’s market speculation that we do not intend to comment on,” an Aurum Asset Management spokesman said when asked about the market rumors.

A source inside Aurum Asset Management said that a number of industry players believe that Aurum Asset Management’s endgame was a tie-up with another major industry player with strong engineering and technical capabilities that is combined with a strong presence in Africa.

An industry insider also mentioned such a scenario. The industry insider said Aurum Asset Management is expected to make such a move in the 3^rd Quarter of 2019 and this move would enable the company to benefit from greater synergies and gain a larger market share in the gold mining industry.

Two other sources close to the situation said a tie-up between Aurum Asset Management and another major industry player was highly likely as such a tie-up would most probably not face any regulatory and financial constraints.

Industry analysts believe that such a tie-up would mutually beneficial for Aurum Asset Management and its partner in the long-run as well as allow both organizations to realize significant cost savings.