JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Outback Metals plans to make a takeover bid for all the issued ordinary shares of tungsten and molybdenum company Queensland Ores, the junior explorer said on Wednesday.

Under the offer, Queensland Ores shareholders would receive one Outback Metals share, for 4,74 Queensland shares. If the offer were successfully completed, Queensland Ores shareholders would hold a 23% stake in the combined entity.

Outback Metals stated that based on the closing prices of its share when last quoted, the offer represented a 16% premium to the price of Queensland Ores shares.

“Outback Metals believes that there are synergies between the two companies and that a merged entity will add better value to shareholders of both Outback Metals and Queensland Ores going forward. Additionally, Outback Metals believes that its management team would be able to contribute, particularly in the Wolfram Camp project, and there is a reasonable possibility that the Wolfram Camp project be returned to production,” said Outback Metals CEO Chris Jordinson.

The Wolfram Camp, which was discovered in 1894, has been previously mined for wolframite, molybdenite, bismuth and mixed concentrates. Since becoming involved with the project in 2004, Queensland Ores has aggressively explored the central portion of the prospective near surface mineralisation.

“Queensland Ores has not been able to secure appropriate funding to continue operations at the Wolfram Camp mine. The offer from Outback Metals gives Queensland Ores shareholders an opportunity to be part of a company with a chance for future growth. The board of Queensland Ores is supporting this bid in the absence of a superior offer, subject to an independent expert concluding the offer is fair and reasonable, and with the acknowledgement that the combined entity will require further funding to return the company to producer status,” said chairperson Roger Marshall.

The offer would be subject to various conditions, including the acceptance in respect of a minimum of 90% of the issued ordinary shares in Queensland Ores, as well as the necessary government and regulatory approvals.

Outback Metals already held 1,25-million shares in Queensland Ores.

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