(Reuters) - Australian nickel miner Independence Group <IGO.AX> on Friday said it will conduct due diligence on Panoramic Resources Ltd <PAN.AX> and its flagship Savannah nickel project after making a bid for its smaller peer.
At the same time, Panoramic announced it would consider alternate proposals to Independence's offer, although no other offers have yet been announced by the company.
Shares of Panoramic Resources jumped as much as 8.2%, to its highest level in two weeks. Independence shares rose 0.3%.
Independence, which offered A$312 million ($211.66 million) in an all-scrip bid for Panoramic, restated that any capital raising by Panoramic would result in a breach of its offer conditions.
Earlier this month, Independence said it was reviewing its takeover bid for Panoramic after the latter flagged underperformance at its Savannah project and said it would likely need to raise funds.
Panoramic said alternative proposals received will be assessed against the terms of Independence's existing offer, and the "value available to shareholders through the continued development and mining of Savannah North."
Meanwhile, Panoramic also said an operational review was underway to improve performance at Savannah, while flagging ore production to ramp up over the coming quarters.
(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
