Gold Road accepts Ramelius offer

Ramelius Resources has gained Gold Road Resources’ stake in Apollo Consolidated, as it moves to complete a $180 million takeover of the explorer.

Gold Road this morning announced it had accepted Ramelius’ revised cash and scrip bid for Apollo, effectively worth 62 cents a share and beating Gold Road’s earlier 56-cent bid.

It means Ramelius now has a 41.8 per cent voting power in Apollo.

Perth-based Ramelius, which has mining operations in Western Australia, is offering 0.1779 of its shares and 34 cents in cash for every share held in Apollo. 

The offer is scheduled to close on December 1.

Today’s announcement comes two days after Gold Road said it wouldn’t increase its offer for Apollo despite the target’s board recommending shareholders vote in favour of Ramelius’ offer, but left the door open with respect to its 19.9 per cent shareholding in the West Perth-based explorer.

Apollo owns four projects in WA, including its flagship asset, Lake Rebecca.

It's estimated to contain 1.1 million ounces of gold.

Also this morning, Westgold Resources announced that, having received consent from ASIC, it had withdrawn its offer for fellow WA goldminer Gascoyne Resources on November 9.

It comes after the Supreme Court of WA approved a conflicting merger between Gascoyne and Subiaco-based explorer Firefly Resources on November 1.