Centamin and Endeavour signed an NDA on December 10 and four days later agreed to a due process diligence to allow both players to assess the value of Endeavour's proposed £1.47 billion merger.

Endeavour's move to take its proposal directly to Centamin shareholders on December 3 meant the company only had until the end of December to make a firm offer for the Egypt-focused producer - known as a ‘put up or shut up' (PUSU) deadline.

Centamin said in a statement Wednesday "Endeavour has now indicated that it will not provide the information that Centamin has requested unless and until Centamin agrees to an extension of the PUSU Deadline".

For its part, Centamin said it "will determine whether to seek an extension of the PUSU deadline following its review of any information forthcoming from Endeavour".

Clearly someone will have to budge for progress to be made, and Centamin's latest statement means our eyes will be peeled for an Endeavour response.