After the Federal Court of Australia made orders approving the acquisition of Gallery Gold (GG) by IAM Gold on Monday, GG requested the suspension of trading of GG fully paid up ordinary shares by Tuesday.

The request to the Australian Stock Exchange was made, in a letter, by GG managing director Hamish Bohannan. Under the acquisition deal, GG will become a subsidiary of IAM Gold and de list from the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Brendon O'Hara, manager issuers at the Australian Stock Exchange in a release to the markets, confirmed that GG shares would be suspended from trading.

O'Hara said: "The securities of Gallery Gold Limited will be suspended from official trading today, Tuesday 14 March 2006, at the request of the company following the effective date of, and in accordance with, the scheme of arrangement between the company and its shareholders". The Toronto-based IAM Gold is said to have four producing gold mines located in Mali and Ghana. It is anticipated that IAM Gold, which is currently listed on the Toronto TSX will later list on the BSE and Australian ASX, which is subject to regulatory approvals.

The approval by the courts comes after IAM Gold proposed a scheme of arrangement under which they proposed to acquire all the shares in Gallery Gold in exchange for new IAM Gold shares in the ratio of 1 new share for every 22 GG shares. The scheme was approved by the shareholders who voted in favour of the scheme that kept the ball rolling for the acquisition. When the scheme was proposed, it was anticipated that the merged entity would have far greater financial strength than GG alone.

GG currently operates Mupane gold mine outside Francistown in Botswana. Equally, management felt that the merger would enhance market appeal through increased size and opportunities that GG does not have. According to GG, it was expected that under the scheme, by 21 March would be a date for the termination of Gallery shareholder entitlement to IAM Gold shares, while on 22 March it would be a date for the allotment of IAM Gold shares to Gallery shareholders. On March 24, the dispatching of holding statements for IAM Go ld shares to Gallery shareholders will take place and March 27 will see the commencement of normal trading of ASX IAM Gold shares issued to GG shareholders.