Consolidation in the Gold PatchThis consolidation by these two mid tier gold co's will cause investors to look at other co's that are in better shape as better investments. Its starting. Osisko and Yamana form Partnership Osisko Mining Corporation-Yamana Gold Inc. Announce Partnership 09:28 EDT Wednesday, April 02, 2014 MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - April 2, 2014) - Osisko Mining Corporation ("Osisko") (TSX:OSK)(FRANKFURT:EWX) and Yamana Gold Inc. ("Yamana") (TSX:YRI)(NYSE:AUY) are pleased to announce they have entered into an agreement ("the Agreement") pursuant to which Yamana will acquire a 50% interest in Osisko's mining and exploration assets for C$441.5 million in cash and 95.7 million common shares of Yamana having an aggregate value of C$929.6 million (the "Yamana Consideration"). Upon implementation of the Agreement, each outstanding Common share of Osisko will be exchanged for (i) C$2.194 in cash, (ii) 0.2119 of a Yamana common share, and (iii) a new common share of Osisko. The value of the interest in the Yamana share is C$2.06 (based on the closing price of the Yamana shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of April 1st, 2014), and the ascribed value of the new common share of Osisko is C$3.35(1), for an aggregate of cash and the implied share value equal to C$7.601 for each currently outstanding Common share of Osisko. Under the Agreement, Yamana will become an equal partner in all of Osisko's mining and exploration assets. Osisko will continue to operate the Canadian Malartic Mine and all other projects under the guidance of a joint operating committee, and will also maintain its head office in Montreal. Osisko and Yamana will be hosting a joint conference call today at 10:00 am EDT to discuss the transaction and the new partnership (details for the call provided below). The Agreement will be effected by way of a statutory plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement", as described below). Osisko shareholders will receive, in exchange for their common shares a combination of cash, Yamana common shares, and new common share of Osisko, which collectively have an aggregate implied value of C$7.60 for each outstanding Osisko Common share1. Under the terms of the Arrangement, Osisko will transfer all of its rights, titles and interests in its mining assets, including the Canadian Malartic Mine and its advanced and greenfield exploration properties to one or more general partnerships (the "General Partnerships"). Yamana will then acquire a 50% interest in the units of each of the General Partnerships in exchange for the Yamana Consideration. The aggregate value of C$7.60 per Common share1 represents a premium of approximately (i) 10% over Osisko's closing price as of April 1st, 2014, and (ii) 22% to the Goldcorp offer of C$6.21 (based on the closing price of the Goldcorp common shares on April 1st, 2014). Osisko retains an additional 2% royalty on all General Partnership projects other than Canadian Malartic. Osisko has also entered into binding commitment agreements with CPPIB Credit Investments Inc. ("CPPIB"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPP Investment Board for an increase under its existing credit facility (the "Credit Facility") and with La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ("La Caisse") for the sale of a gold stream (the "Gold Stream Agreement") on the Canadian Malartic Mine. The Gold Stream Agreement and the increase in the Credit Facility provide additional funding to Osisko of an aggregate of C$550 million. Together with cash consideration from Yamana, these investments generate approximately C$1 billion in cash to be distributed to Osisko shareholders. The Canadian Malartic General Partnership will enter into the Gold Stream Agreement related to 37,500 ounces of gold per annum with La Caisse in return for a deposit of C$275 million. The Gold Stream Agreement includes a repurchase and put clause and provides La Caisse with a guaranteed minimum return of 8% (in the event the put right is exercised). The Gold Stream Agreement has a transfer price of 42% of the spot gold price. Osisko's CPPIB credit facility of C$150 million will be transferred to the Canadian Malartic General Partnership and increased by C$275 million, with an interest rate of 7.625%, providing a total of C$425 million of debt to finance the transaction. CPPIB, a lender to and security holder of Osisko, is supporting the transaction by making a binding commitment to advance a C$275 million loan and to roll over its existing C$150 million loan, providing a total of C$425 million of debt to finance the transaction. In connection with the transaction, La Caisse and Investissement Québec will each exercise their right to convert their respective C$37.5 million debentures into 6 million Common shares of Osisko (12 million shares total) prior to the implementation of the Agreement. Osisko's Board Unanimously Recommends the Arrangement Osisko's board of directors has unanimously determined that the Arrangement is in the best interests of Osisko and its shareholders and will recommend that Osisko shareholders vote in favour of the Arrangement. Shareholders, including the directors and senior officers of Osisko, holding in aggregate over 5% of the issued and outstanding Common shares of Osisko, have entered into voting agreements with Yamana, pursuant to which they have agreed to vote their shares in favour of the Arrangement. Sean Roosen, President and CEO of Osisko stated: "We are extremely pleased today to announce this partnership with Yamana Gold. Since the middle of January our shareholders have been subjected to a low-value hostile offer. Today's announcement brings significantly greater value to our shareholders. It also provides shareholders with a certainty of their ability to continue participating in the future upside of our very strong free cash flowing Canadian Malartic mine; the ability to continue benefitting from further exploration and development at the mine site, with the underground potential at Canadian Malartic and Barnat, the Amphi deposit, the Western Porphyry deposit and the new Odyssey discovery; and the ability to continue to participate in our very strong growth portfolio: the Upper Beaver deposit, Hammond Reef, the Canadian Kirkland deposit, the Bidgood deposit, the Upper Canada deposit, Pandora, and Guerrero. Our partnership with Yamana will also provide 50% of the future funding for new exploration and development of these projects, reducing risk for our shareholders. We have worked carefully and diligently over the past two months to bring this deal to shareholders today. Osisko will continue to follow its ideals and principles, with our primary objective being to maximize shareholder value as we work to grow the free cash flow from our assets and return benefits to Osisko's owners through the planned implementation in 2014 of a significant dividend program, all the while striving to add value at the drill bit with new discoveries." This partnership provides Yamana with significant production growth, an improved consolidated cost structure, enhanced generation of cash flow and an expanded future project pipeline. It will also provide entry into one of the world's best mining jurisdictions without the level of risk generally associated with new jurisdictions given that as part of the agreement, Osisko management will continue to be the operators of the Canadian Malartic mine through a joint operating committee. Peter Marrone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yamana stated: "This transaction provides an entry into a new world-class North American jurisdiction with an immediate increase in production and improvement to our already low-cost structure, in addition to the significant and immediate positive impact to our current and future cash flow generation. This remains consistent with our stated objectives of focusing on top and bottom line growth and balancing production and costs to preserve margin and enhance cash flow generation capacity. This approach provides the best available opportunity for Yamana to gain access and exposure to a high quality asset with the least risk balanced with immediate growth and the potential for further value enhancement. The transaction provides Osisko shareholders fair value for their existing shares and allows them to retain direct exposure through new Osisko shares to the robust and substantive value of Canadian Malartic, as well as the significant value represented in the other exploration and development projects in the Osisko asset portfolio and more diversified exposure through Yamana shares. Management will remain the same with their head office in Montreal, providing further support for Osisko to continue to be a successful and formidable player in the Canadian and more particularly Québec gold mining landscape. We believe the combination of Osisko mine management, with their extensive experience, and our management's experience on large open pit operations creates an opportunity for operational synergies and enables continued operating success at Canadian Malartic with the potential to be further enhanced. This combined expertise will also create value as other projects are advanced through the project pipeline. This transaction is accretive to Yamana across a range of key metrics. In particular, we are very impressed by the proven cash flow and free cash flow generation capacity of Canadian Malartic for both Yamana and the new Osisko. We believe this transaction provides the best opportunity for both Yamana and Osisko shareholders to realize significant immediate and future value generation."