Goldcorp pays $526 million for Probe VANCOUVER - Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) has offered to buy full control of Probe Mines Ltd. (TSXV:PRB) and its Borden gold project near Chapleau, Ont., in a friendly takeover valued at $526 million.
Goldcorp currently owns about 9.3 per cent of Probe and is offering 0.1755 of a Goldcorp share for each of the remaining shares. Probe shareholders would also receive shares of a new publicly listed company focused on the Ring of Fire area.
The offer is valued at $5 per Probe share, representing a 49 per cent premium Friday's closing price of $3.36 on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Goldcorp chief executive Chuck Jeannes says the Probe acquisition would secure a high-quality deposit within a core area for the Vancouver-based gold giant.
The Borden deposit is about 160 kilometres west of Goldcorp's Porcupine Mine.
The transaction requires a two-thirds majority vote from Probe shareholders at a special meeting. Goldcorp would receive a $18.4-million termination fee under certain circumstances if the deal doesn't close.
Probe's board of directors are supporting the deal and shareholders representing 4.6 per cent of Probe's outstanding stock have agreed to tender to the offer.
Here is how Probe describes this deposit:
https://www.probemines.com/s/Projects.asp
The Company's focus is the Borden Gold Project, a significant, multi-million ounce gold discovery located near Chapleau, Ontario. Discovered in a previously unexplored area, the project is situated close to well-developed infrastructure,
An updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Borden gold deposit was released on June 10, 2014. This was the first Resource Estimate to contain the High-Grade Underground (U/G) resource which is estimated to contain a constrained Indicated Resource of 1.60 million ounces of gold averaging 5.39 g/t Au and an additional constrained Inferred Resource of 0.43 million ounces of gold averaging 4.37 g/t Au, at a 2.5 g/t Au cut-off grade. In addition, the deposit is estimated to contain an Open pit-constrained Resource of 2.32 million ounces of gold averaging 1.03 g/t Au, at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade.
Probe's high-grade Black Creek Chromite Project, located in the James Bay Lowlands was discovered in 2009. Containing a measured and indicated resource of 8.645 million tonnes averaging 37.41% Cr2O3 and an additional inferred 1.6 million tonnes averaging 37.78% Cr2O3, Black Creek is a very valuable asset in Probe's property portfolio.