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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Alamos confident it can defeat merger of Aurizon Mines and Hecla Mining

By: The Canadian Press

Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2013 at 4:57 PM | Comments: 0

TORONTO - Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX:AGI) believes it can defeat the friendly merger of Aurizon Mines Ltd. and Hecla Mining Co. and is waiving the minimum tender condition on its hostile bid for Aurizon.

Alamos extended its hostile offer for Aurizon on Tuesday until March 19 as a result of it waiving the condition, but said all other terms of its hostile bid for Aurizon stand.

The offer by Alamos was valued at $4.65 per share when it was announced, and Hecla's friendly cash and stock offer is valued at $4.75 per Aurizon share (TSX:ARZ).

Hecla is also prepared to pay more cash — up to $513.6 million of the total bill, almost $210 million above the cap in the Alamos stock and cash bid.

However, the Hecla deal requires approval of two-thirds of the votes cast by affected Aurizon securityholders and two-thirds of the votes cast by Aurizon shareholders at a special meeting.

Alamos, which already owns a 16 per cent stake in Aurizon, said it's confident it will receive an additional 17.3 per cent of outstanding Aurizon shares after speaking with several large Aurizon shareholders — blocking Hecla's white knight offer.

Alamos has a mine and mineral rights in Mexico and an advanced development project in Turkey while Hecla has mines in Alaska and Idaho as well as land packages in several other U.S. states and in Durango, Mexico.

Aurizon has eight properties in Quebec, including the Casa Berardi gold mine, as well as several development and exploration projects, while Alamos has a mine and mineral rights in Mexico and an advanced development project in Turkey.

Shares in Aurizon closed down 19 cents or about four per cent at $4.30 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

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