TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based explorer B2Gold Corp has announced a rival takeover offer for Central Sun Mining, which it said offered better value than a friendly tie-up proposed by Central Sun and fellow Canadian Linear Gold.

B2Gold, which is exploring on properties in Colombia and Russia, said that it had made a proposal to Central Sun, to exchange 1,28 B2Gold shares for every Central Sun share.

The offer represented a price of about C$0,65 a share for Central Sun, which was a 44% premium over the firm's closing price on January 26, B2Gold said.

According to an agreement unveiled in December, Central Sun shareholders would have received 0,4 of a Linear share for every Central Sun share they own, valuing the transaction at around C$18,4-million.

However, Central Sun said separately on Tuesday that its board had unanimously determined that the B2Gold offer was superior to the terms agreed to with Linear Gold.

“The board of directors of Central Sun has carefully considered the proposed terms of the B2Gold transaction as compared to the terms of the business combination with Linear Gold and, in consultation with our financial and legal advisers, has determined that the B2Gold transaction would result in a transaction more favourable to the shareholders of Central Sun, from a financial point of view," said chairperson Stan Bharti.

Linear Gold, meanwhile, said that it was still reviewing the rival offer, and reiterated that it had the right to match any superior offer received by Central Sun.

Central Sun has one producing mine in Nicaragua, and will start output from a second, which it is converting to conventional milling to increase gold output.

However, the project was put on hold last year because of cash constraints and difficulties in raising the necessary funds.

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