Ramelius Resources Makes Welcome Advances for Apollo Consolidated Takeover

THE BOURSE WHISPERER: Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) provided Apollo Consolidated (ASX: AOP) shareholders something to blow their morning coffee over by announcing a takeover bid.

Ramelius Resources reported entering into a Bid Implementation Agreement (BIA) with Apollo Consolidated that will result in the former acquiring all issued ordinary shares of the latter by way of an off-market takeover offer.

Under the terms of the offer, Apollo shareholders will receive cash consideration of 34 cents and 0.1375 Ramelius shares for each Apollo share held, valuing each Apollo share at 56 cents that, based on the 3 day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of Ramelius shares up to and including 15 October 2021 of $1.60, implies a total equity value for Apollo of approximately $163 million.

In response, the Apollo Consolidated Board of Directors unanimously recommended that Apollo shareholders accept the Offer, in the absence of a superior offer.

Ramelius’ takeover of Apollo makes sense when one considers Apollo’s primary asset being the 100 per cent-owned Lake Rebecca project in Western Australia, located just outside of Kalgoorlie.

Apollo holds approximately 160 square kilometres of granted tenure within a greenstone belt on the eastern margin of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt.

This belt lies at the southern end of the Laverton Tectonic Zone, a regionally important structural corridor that hosts multiple major gold camps.

Apollo has taken Lake Rebecca to an attractive stage, with three main deposits currently defined, Rebecca, Duke and Duchess.

Rebecca hosts the high-grade Jennifer Lode and adjoining mineralised surface.

In April 2021, Apollo announced an updated JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the project of:

29.1 million tonnes at 1.2 grams per tonne gold for 1.1 million ounces of gold, 74 per cent of which is in an Indicated category.

Ramelius owns and operates the Mt Magnet, Edna May, Vivien, Marda, Tampia and Penny gold mines, all in Western Australia.

Ore from the high-grade Vivien underground mine, located near Leinster, is hauled to the Mt Magnet processing plant where it is blended with ore from both underground and open pit sources at Mt Magnet.

The Penny project is currently under development with first ore scheduled for late FY22.

Ramelius sees Lake Rebecca as a highly attractive opportunity to ultimately develop a greenfields mining operation in one of the world’s premier gold mining jurisdictions.

The project’s existing 1.1 million ounce Resource provides a strong platform from which Ramelius can pursue the commercial development of a mining operation which fits its criteria in terms of scale and asset quality.

The Lake Rebecca tenement package offers the potential to continue expanding the existing MRE, with a view to both expanding any future operation or extending mine life.

“Lake Rebecca is an outstanding opportunity for Ramelius to add a key growth asset to its portfolio of producing assets at Mount Magnet and Edna May,” Ramelius Resources managing director Mark Zeptner said in the company’s ASX announcement.

“The Apollo team has done an excellent job advancing Lake Rebecca to its current stage of development and have clearly demonstrated its potential for development into a high-quality gold mine in a tier-one gold mining jurisdiction.

“Subject to the offer being successful, Ramelius is looking forward to ramping up the drilling program across the tenement package to expand the existing resource and ultimately developing Lake Rebecca into a cornerstone producing asset within our portfolio.

“Our strategic target for the project is to identify a pathway to a mine life of 10 years at a run rate of at least 100,000 ounces per annum.

“We also look forward to welcoming Apollo shareholders as Ramelius shareholders and encourage Apollo shareholders to accept the offer as soon as possible.”

“The offer follows a period of significant corporate interest in Apollo and delivers an excellent result for our shareholders who, over the years, have seen Lake Rebecca transition from a greenfield exploration play to its status as a potential future stand-alone, long-life production asset,” Apollo Consolidated managing director Nick Castleden added.

“Ramelius brings excellent credentials in the business of taking new gold projects online and has ample experience, personnel, and funding to take the project forward.

“Lake Rebecca is clearly an excellent fit for Ramelius’ >250,000oz/pa production profile, and the Ramelius shares that Apollo shareholders will receive offer the stability of a multi-project production house while maintaining exposure to the upside as Lake Rebecca progresses along the path to development.

“The offer provides compelling value to shareholders with the circa 60 per cent cash component providing value certainty plus equity in a proven and well respected West Australian gold miner.

“We look forward to joining Ramelius’ existing shareholders to participate in the next stages of the journey.”

 

TO READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT: CLICK HERE

 

Email: reception@rameliusresources.com.au

 

Web: www.rameliusresources.com.au