The mid-tier has offered C5c for each of the junior's shares.

Alexandria said its board had concluded the unsolicited offer constituted a superior proposal to the May 14 agreement with Chantrell Ventures. Chantrell now has 10 business days in which to consider an increase of its offer for Alexandria.

Alexandria would have to terminate the Chantrell agreement and pay a fee of C$875,000 to be in a position to sign an agreement with Agnico Eagle. If the Alexandria board accepts the Agnico Eagle offer, the agreement will be subject to approval by Alexandria shareholders.

Agnico Eagle said the acquisition would allow it to consolidate an additional 14,819 hectares of mining claims that cover about 35km of strike length along the Cadillac-Larder Lake break in the prospective Val d'Or gold camp of Quebec.

Three of Alexandria's properties (Orenada, Akasaba and Sleepy) contain total historical inferred resources of 526,702oz gold in 4.6 million tonnes grading 3.5g/t and indicated resources of 448,654oz gold held in 7.4Mt grading 1.88g/t.

"Agnico Eagle has a long history of involvement with Alexandria, both as an equity investor and through the purchase of the Akasaba West property in 2014," said Agnico SVP president for exploration Alain Blackburn.

"We believe that the key Alexandria properties are highly prospective and underexplored and could potentially provide future sources of ore at our nearby Goldex mine."

Under the proposal, each Alexandria shareholder will have the option to receive cash, Agnico common shares and cash, or Agnico Eagle shares only.

Agnico said the proposal represented a premium to the value under Alexandria's agreement with Chantrell and to the current market price of Alexandria shares.

Agnico Eagle currently owns 28.8 million Alexandria shares, or about 5.6% of Alexandria's outstanding equity float.

Alexandria's (TSXV:AZX) gained C2c or 57% to 5.5c on Friday, which capitalises it at $25.8 million.