Ann: Diggers and Dealers presentation, page-32

Cubby, mate, I think your maths is a bit sus. In rough terms Spartan's market cap is about half that of Ramelius and so if the two companies were to join on that basis then Ramelius shareholders would have two thirds of the merged company's share registry and Spartan shareholders would have one third of the registry. And Mark Zeptner would not be "giving" anything away but rather would be exchanging a third of Ramelius's future cash flows for a long life high quantity (remembering the Dalgaranga mill is 2.5mtpa versus the Checkers mill at Mt Magnet which has a name plate of 1.8mtpa) high quality (high grades, big width, from near surface) second hub.

Strategically, I rate Spartan as a defining deal for Ramelius as with Never Never et al and mill at Dalgaranga and the Eridanus Galaxy mix at Mt Magnet it would have a rhythm section as solid as Acca Dacca's. And then they could have the Angus projects like Penny and Cue to top off what would be a powerhouse performance for the next decade at least.

A further factor is that Ramelius already owns 18% of Spartan's shares and my guess is a venn diagram would show that heaps of Spartan shareholders already own Ramelius shares. In other words I suspect there is lots of intermingling even before a formal bid has been made.