Heemskirk Consolidated has defeated Conquest Mining with an $84 million scrip bid for North Queensland Metals.

NQM is advising its shareholders to take the Heemskirk offer worth about $84 million based on the candidate's Friday closing price of 35¢ a share.

Under the agreement, NQM investors would receive 1.2 Heemskirk shares for each NQM share and would own 60.4 per cent of the joint entity if Heemskirk acquired all the NQM shares.

All non-conflicted NQM directors unanimously recommended the offer.
NQM shares climbed sharply after coming out of a trading halt yesterday, ending 24 per cent up at 33.5¢. Meanwhile Heemskirk plunged 12.9 per cent to 30.5¢.

The suitor is NQM's minority partner in the Pajingo gold project, situated near Charters Towers in Queensland, which recently had reassuring drill results.

According to NQM head of corporate affairs Jon Loraine, Heemskirk, which has 40 per cent stake in Pajingo, had a solid working relationship with NQM.
''Clearly what this meant was that Heemskirk had a very good understanding of the Pajingo goldmine, which really everyone is very excited about right now,'' he said.

Last June, NQM told shareholders a 57.89 million offer from Conquest Mining was insufficient.