Silver Lake Resources has upped its bid for St Barbara’s Leonora mine to $722 million in an effort to beat out Genesis Minerals.
It’s been less than a week since Genesis increased the scrip component of its bid for the Western Australian mine to $604 million compared to Silver Lake’s $614 million.
While Silver Lake’s new offer has increased by $44 million in cash, St Barbara may yet reject it.
Following Genesis’ increased script component proposal, St Barbara indicated that it will accept the offer due to it being legally binding and fully funded, however it is yet to release an announcement regarding Silver Lake’s increased offer.
“Since the announcement of the Genesis proposal on 17 April 2023, Silver has provided two advanced and fully funded proposals to the St Barbara board, demonstrating its significant interest in, and ability to move rapidly to progress, an alternative transaction involving St Barbara’s Leonora assets,” Silver Lake said in a statement.
The Leonora operation consists of the Gwalia underground mine and processing plant, located 235km from Kalgoorli. It has produced three million ounces of gold since 2005.
“The improved Silver Lake proposal provides equivalent cash consideration to the Genesis proposal, in addition to continuing to provide St Barbara shareholders with immediate exposure to a larger, more liquid and diverse gold business,” Silver Lake said.
“Silver Lake confirms it remains ready and willing to engage with the St Barbara board to explore a transaction that has the potential to be beneficial to both sets of shareholders and create a genuine mid-tier gold producer with immediate gold production.”
It remains to be seen whether St Barbara will accept the offer.