Ashanti Goldfield: Going, Going, Gon....

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - British mining group Lonmin is in talks to buy Ashanti Goldfields Co Ltd of Ghana in a deal which would create one of Africa's biggest gold mining concerns, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

``Discussions are known to be at an early stage but insiders say a deal could be completed within the next month,'' the newspaper said.

It said Ashanti Goldfields had a market capitalisation of nearly 600 million pounds ($993.2 million).

Lonmin, which already owns 33 percent of Ashanti, was formerly known as Lonhro.

The new combined group would be called Ashanti Plc and discussions were going on over the composition of the new board, the newspaper said.

It said Ashanti executives were trying to win the support of the Ghanaian government, which has a 20 percent stake in Ashanti and can block any deal.

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