With its proposed "merger of equals" with Anglo American showing signs of fizzling out, the Switzerland-based mining giant Xstrata intends launching a fresh bid for the world's third-ranking platinum producer, the South Africa-based Lonmin, which was earlier called Lonrho.

After Xstrata's previous hostile acquisition bid of £5 billion for Lonmin last October - a bid that Xstrata had to forfeit due to the recession-hit crashed markets and shrunken sources of funding -, Xstrata now plans to offer over £3 billion for the proposed takeover.

However, the rumored price and funding of the fresh bid are the key concerns that have forced some analysts to believe that the speculation about the acquisition of Lonmin, a company in which Xstrata has a 25 percent stake, is somewhat "overplayed."

Moreover, a fresh bid for Lonmin implies that the Xstrata-Anglo deal is either as good as dead or has turned into a "longer game," because if Xstrata's acquisition of Lonmin comes through, Xstrata would have to divest it in case it works out a merger with Anglo too - more so as Lonmin and Anglo subsidiary 'Anglo Platinum' are closest competitors, controlling more than 50 percent of the world's platinum production.

According to The Observer, Xstrata group CEO, Mick Davis, has instructed the company's financial advisers, JP Morgan and Deutsche, to carry out a feasibility study pertaining to the new Lonmin bid.