The company continued its meteoric rise yesterday on the back of takeover bids by Xstrata Coal and New Hope Corporation, jumping to a record high of $A3.01 yesterday.
The 3.44% rise was on top of the massive 19.75% jump on Tuesday and 3.4% lift on Monday.
Yesterday morning Xstrata launched a $960 million cash bid for Resource Pacific, trumping New Hope's offer of 0.94 of its own shares for every Resource Pacific share, which values the company at $808 million.
A third company, major Japanese trading house Marubeni, has found itself central to the offer after Xstrata Coal announced it had entered a cooperation agreement with the company that holds 10.94% of Resource Pacific.
When combined with a stake in the company held by Titan Holdings, a subsidiary of Xstrata, that stake equates to 15.56%.
Jury revealed to the Australian that he had discussed the agreement between Marubeni and Xstrata and felt it was an "act of betrayal".
If successful the agreement allows Marubeni the right to appoint a director to the Resource Pacific board and an option to buy into joint ventures held by Resource Pacific with South Korean steelmaker Posco, according to the Australian.
Xstrata Coal chief Peter Coates said Xstrata was best placed to optimise potential at Resource Pacific's single mine, Newpac.
He also questioned Resource Pacific chief executive Paul Jury's statement yesterday morning that the company would double output at Newpac in 2010 to 8 million tonnes per annum.
Coates said Xstrata currently had the most productive longwall in the country in Beltana.
"The most productive longwall mine in this country is currently running at about 7.5 million tonnes per annum. It is not an easy task to get to that level of production," Coates said, according to the Australian.
Coates also pointed out that Xstrata's price far exceeded that of the $1.60 rights issue Resource Pacific finalised early last month.
"You've only got to look at how we've valued that compared to how Resource Pacific valued their business," Coates said, according to the Australian.
