BUZZ-Australia's Torque Metals soars on takeover offer for Aston Minerals

** Shares of Torque Metals TOR.AX rise 20.7% to A$0.07 after the explorer said it would acquire Aston Minerals ASO.AX in an all-share transaction

** Torque Metals rose as much as 24.1% earlier in the day, hitting its highest level since Oct. 31

** Aston Minerals shares surge up to 60% to A$0.016, touching their highest level since Sept. 30

** Merger will see Torque and Aston shareholders each own 50% of the merged entity

** Torque will offer 1 Torque share for every 5.2 Aston shares, representing an offer price of A$0.01 per Aston share

** Offer price is same as Aston's last close

** TOR up 9.4% this year, as of last close, while ASO up 11.1%