"A confidentiality agreement has been executed with Nordgold and the company has provided Nordgold with full access to the Cardinal data room to allow Nordgold to complete its due diligence as requested," said Cardinal.

Cardinal said while Nordgold had already taken a 19.9% stake in Cardinal, "it has not made any formal offer".

"Cardinal will advise shareholders if a formal offer is received from Nordgold or there are any other material developments," said the company.

Nordgold said on March 16 it had submitted a non-binding indicative and conditional proposal to acquire the rest of Cardinal for 45.77c per share - an 83% cash premium to Cardinal's closing price on March 13.

In addition to the takeover update, Cardinal said it had agreed a new US$5 million loan with Sprott "given the unexpected downturn in global equity markets and uncertainties as a result of the COVID‐19 pandemic".

The new facility takes Cardinal's loan position to US$24 million, giving the company a cash position of about US$7.1 million.

COVID-19 has also forced Cardinal to make changes to its exploration programme.

"All international travel has been suspended, while on the ground in Ghana, the workforce has been reduced to key personnel only," said Cardinal.