Gold miner North Queensland Metals Ltd's (ASX: NQM) pronouncement yesterday that Conquest Mining Ltd (ASX: CQT) was likely nearing closer on its quest to take control of NQM may be coming true after all as Conquest announced on Tuesday that its stake on the target company went up from 32.76 percent to 37.49 percent.

The golden pot for Conquest moved substantially closer as NQM revealed today that three of its directors are now throwing its support on the suitor's takeover proposal, urging NQM investors disregard their previous opposition to the bid and urging them to back the offer.

A rival bid from Heemskirk Consolidated Ltd has been withdrawn and its formal bid simply left to lapse on September 10 further gave Conquest its much needed edge as Heemskirk, a joint venture partner of NQM on its Paginjo gold mine, ended up with only 10.51 percent in the target company as result of its proposal's expiration.

Also, NQM said that another company negotiating with the gold mining firm for possible takeover deal has made known its withdrawal from the process, formally ending the two parties' deal discussions and further boosting the likelihood a Conquest-NQM merger.

Conquest Mining submitted a takeover proposal for NQM, in which the suitor company offered half of Conquest share plus 15 cents cash for every NQM share being held by the target's shareholders, leading to a total acquisition proposal of up to $79.1 million when based on the 49 cents Conquest share price.

As of 1523 AEST on Tuesday, Conquest Mining shares were trading at 49 cents, picking up 1.5 cents or 3.16 percent from previous trading sessions.