Eldorado, which owns 17% of QMX, will pay 30c a share, a 39.5% premium to the closing price on January 20, with QMX shareholders receiving 7.5c in cash and 0.01523 of an Eldorado share for each share they hold. Following the transaction, QMX shareholders will own about 2.8% of Eldorado.

The acquisition increases Eldorado's footprint and landholdings in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt by 550% including a large land package adjacent to its Lamaque mine and Sigma mine.

"This transaction expands our position in the Abitibi camp and is consistent with our strategy of pursuing growth at Lamaque in Quebec, a high-quality jurisdiction. QMX's highly prospective land package is ideally located immediately adjacent to our current Lamaque operation and associated exploration projects in the heart of the Val d'Or gold district," said Eldorado Gold president and CEO George Burns.

The transaction is a friendly takeover with directors and senior officers of QMX, holding about 1% of its stock having entered into voting support agreements with Eldorado.

Lamaque produced 144,141oz in 2020, 26.5% more than in 2019. The company provided guidance at the start of the month that the operation would produce a similar amount this year before increasing towards 190,000oz by 2025.

Eyes may well turn to O3 Mining whose Alpha property almost encircles QMX's and where the company is undertaking a 100,000m drilling programme to define more resources at existing deposits and test new targets.

Shares in Eldorado Gold are trading at C14.29, valuing the company at $2.5 billion.