PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Ramelius Resources has increased its takeover offer for fellow listed Explaurum by 5c a share in cash.

Ramelius has presented Explaurum with a new indicative, non-binding and incomplete proposal of 5c a share in cash for Explaurum’s shares, in addition to the existing one-for-four script offer currently on the table.

The new offer increased the value of Explaurum shares from the previous valuation of 12.3c each, to 15.25c each.

Ramelius MD Mark Zeptner said on Monday that the new proposal was made on the basis of good faith and constructive dialogue with the board of Explaurum.

“We are very pleased to have been able to enter into a good faith dialogue with Explaurum and their advisers which has allowed us to reach this new point. We look forward to finalising our due diligence process and working with Explaurum in order to bring a binding offer to its shareholders that has the mutual recommendation of both groups.”

Meanwhile, ASX-listed Alkane has told Explaurum that it would not trigger the termination of an A$8-million subscription agreement or call the break fee on the basis of Explaurum engaging with Ramelius and providing due diligence.

However, this confirmation did not extent to a situation where an implementation agreement or equivalent would be executed, or where the board of Explaurum changed its recommendation on the Ramelius offer.

Alkane at the end of October took a 12.2% stake in Explaurum, subject to shareholder approval, subscribing for some 66.66-million shares at a price of 12c each.

In addition to the share placement, Explaurum will also grant Alkane 53.4-million options, exercisable by November 2019, in two tranches, with the first tranche of 18.6-million options exercisable at 13c each, and the second tranche of 34.7-million options exercisable at 14c each.

If all options were to be exercised, Alkane’s share in Explaurum would increase to 19.96%.