Advice will be sought by the Newcrest Mining from its shareholders next week as its $9.2 billion bid for Lihir Gold got rejected. A tough fight has been expected between Australia's two biggest listed goldminers.

Newcrest Chief Executive Ian Smith said, "The offer is full and fair value and we were a little surprised that they took the position to go public. We gave them a proposal on Monday and they were to come back to us by close of business on Thursday, so it is a little surprising that they chose to go public at this point in time".

Lihir which is the nation's second-biggest listed goldminer got an offer that was pitched at one Newcrest share for every nine Lihir shares in addition to 22.5c cash per Lihir share, minus any interim dividend declared for the first half of the year 2010.

Shares in Lihir ascended to 33.3 per cent to close at $4.04 on Thursday, whereas Newcrest swelled 2.9% at $33.78. Port Moresby-based Lihir shared that the offer valued its shares at $3.87 per share and the company at approximately $9.2 billion.