Felix closed at $15.21 on Wednesday and reached a high of $18.67 in intra-day trade yesterday.

Explaining itself to the Australian Securities Exchange over the dramatic jump, the miner said it was not aware of any information which would account for the trading.

A spark to the trading could be related to a report in the Financial Review titled “Felix still has lots of appeal” which predicted Vale as a potential predator.

Late last month Felix said it had several parties interested in a potential takeover; however, no formal offer has yet been made for the coal miner.

Felix had not named the interested parties but reiterated yesterday the interest was “preliminary, incomplete, non-binding and conditional”.

Media rumour has also suggested China’s biggest coal producer, Shenhua Energy, as a contender. The group has an interest in Australia, this morning revealing it had secured exploration rights in the Gunnedah Basin.

Felix’s Moolarben Coal project was put on hold earlier this week after coal giant Xstrata won an appeal against the validity of Felix’s mining leases for the operation.

Felix was trading mid-morning at $17.51.