Senior refinery technician Vincente Sandoval puts a gold "button" into a furnace to be further refined to form gold dore bars at Newmont Mining's Carlin gold mine operation near Elko, Nevada May 21, 2014. The dore bars contain approximately
Senior refinery technician Vincente Sandoval puts a gold into a furnace to be further refined to form gold dore bars at Newmont Mining's Carlin gold mine operation near Elko, Nevada May 21, 2014. Reuters/Rick Wilking

Australia’s number two gold mine company, Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) has moved closer to the acquisition of Phoenix Gold (ASX.PXG) after its final offer was accepted by Phoenix shareholders on Nov.26.

According to the ASX announcement, the boards of Evolution and Phoenix Gold have reached an agreement on improved terms for the takeover offer for Phoenix by Evolution. Subsequently, the Board of Phoenix resolved to recommend that shareholders should accept the offer as there is no superior proposal. That made all shareholders and Directors of Phoenix accept the Evolution offer. That takes Evolution’s stake to 72.14 percent as relevant interest in Phoenix.

Evolution said on Nov 25 that its offer price was final and will not be increased. Phoenix directors later unanimously recommended the offer and Phoenix managing director, Dale Rogers, confirmed that it has accepted the offer and all Phoenix directors have recommended the offer.

Earlier, Evolution's chairman Jake Klein told his company's annual general meeting that it expects to move beyond the 90 percent mandatory acquisition threshold in the near future, reports The Australian.

Details of the offer

Under the offer, Phoenix shareholders will receive 0.06 Evolution shares and $0.06 cash for Phoenix shares. After Evolution passes the relevant interest benchmark of 90 percent Phoenix shares, Phoenix shareholders will receive an additional 0.75 cents for each Phoenix share they have held.

Collectively, the consideration becomes 0.06 Evolution shares and $0.0675 cash for each Phoenix share. On Oct. 16 the offer was declared as unconditional. All Phoenix shareholders who accept the offer will get paid the consideration within 14 days of accepting the offer. The offer will stay valid until 7.00pm AEST on Dec. 15, 2015.

Evolution has set a target to produce gold between 730,000 and 810,000 ounce at a cost between $990 and $1,060 per ounce in the year 2016, the chairman told the AGM.

Compared to Evolution, Phoenix is a small player. But it has vast land holdings on the Zuleika and Kunanalling shear zones in Western Australia. That region is home to the richest gold deposits in Australia. Phoenix claims it has resources of more than 4 million ounces.

Share performance

The Fool.com reported that Evolution Mining has been a good performer on the ASX in 2015 with share price trading at $1.255, that is up by 112 percent since the beginning of the year, despite a four percent decline in the S&P/ASX 200 during the same period.

The company has plans to invest $25 million to $30 million for exploration in the 2015 financial year, according to the chairman.

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