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Saracen seeks to acquire Bligh Resources in off market offer

Saracen is making an off market offer for bligh resources

Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX: SAR) is seeking to acquire Western Australia-based gold miner Bligh Resources with an off-market offer

Saracen said today that it is offering Bligh Resources 0.0369 Saracen shares for every Bligh share for a value of 12.8 cents per Bligh share, a 97 per cent premium on the junior’s last closing price of 6.5 cents on June 13.

Bligh Resources owns the Bundarra Gold Project which lies within the Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt of the Archean Yilgarn Craton, approximately 60km north of Leonora in the North-Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. The area is serviced with an abundance of infrastructure including a bitumen road running through the project and numerous third-party gold plants within a short trucking distance.

The Bundarra Gold Project is at an advanced stage of exploration. Three open pit mines were developed by Sons of Gwalia (now St Barbara’s) in the early 2000’s. Significant resources have been established below the existing open pit mines. The company has reported Mineral Resources (JORC 2012) across three deposits at the Celtic, Wonder North, Wonder West and a new exploration zone the Bluebush.

The board of Bligh has unanimously recommended the offer in the absence of a superior proposal. Saracen said that its offer was final and would not be increased. The offer is subject to a 90 per cent minimum acceptance rate by Bligh’s shareholders.

The Bundurra project consists of five mining leases and six prospecting licences across four gold deposits hosting a combined JORC-compliant resource of 9.7 million tonnes at 2.1 grams of gold per tonne for a total of 660,000 contained ounces.

Should the offer proceed, Bligh will provide a significant resource to Saracen Minerals in its mission to become a 400,000 ounce-a-year producer. The company committed $60 million in exploration funding in April for the 2019 financial year across its WA operations in line with this growth strategy.

“The offer makes sense for both companies. Saracen’s infrastructure at our nearby Thunderbox operations means we can unlock the value of Bundurra and this is reflected in the share price premium we have offered to Bligh shareholders,” said Saracen managing director Raleigh Finlayson.

Saracen is an ASX 200 listed gold miner with an annual production of over 300,000 ozpa. Strong cashflows with no debt have strengthened Saracen’s position with all ctivities funded from internal cashflow.

Saracen’s production comes from two WA projects, Carosue Dam Operation and its Thunderbox Operation. Both operations have long lives with extensive potential for further growth through exploration.

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