The company's shares rose as much as 25 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange after Bloomberg said QKR Corp, a fund led by former JPMorgan Chase & Co banker Lloyd Pengilly, is close to making a bid of about $1 billion. (http://bloom.bg/1F4mMs6)

Vancouver-based Nevsun, which owns 60 percent of the Bisha gold, copper and zinc mine in Eritrea in East Africa, said it received proposals for transactions from various parties and these discussions were at a preliminary stage.

The company's U.S.-listed shares, which rose as much as 20 percent after the Bloomberg report, were up 9 percent at $4.10.

Toronto-listed shares were up 9 percent at C$4.64.

(Reporting by Sneha Banerjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)