TORONTO - Canadian gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd has entered into a predominantly share based deal worth C$205 million (around US$188 million) to buy Mexico focused exploration company Cayden Resources Inc.

The deal, announced after markets closed on Monday, calls for Agnico to pay 0.09 of a share plus one cent in cash for each Cayden share, including shares issuable under outstanding options and warrants.

Canada-based Cayden is an exploration company focused on discovery, financing, and monetization of precious metal assets in two mining jurisdictions in Mexico. It owns a 100 percent stake in the El Barqueno property, spread over roughly 41,000 hectares in the Guachinango gold district in Jalisco state, and in the Morelos Sur property that covers about 13,000 hectares in the Guerrero gold belt in Guerrero State.

El Barqueno hosts a significant epithermal bonanza type gold vein and disseminated stock work system. Several gold bearing zones have been identified by drilling and trenching in an area approximately 13.5 km long by 4.7 km wide.

Under the agreed deal, Agnico Eagle will pay 0.09 of a share plus C$0.01 for each Cayden share, including shares issuable under outstanding options and warrants. The maximum number of shares issuable by Agnico Eagle under the offer will be roughly 4.86 million, or about 2.3 percent of its outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis.

Agnico says that it values Cayden at $3.79 per share based on Agnico's volume weighted average share price on the TSX for the 30-day period ended Sept. 5 and represents a premium of 42.5 per cent to the volume weighted average price of Cayden shares on the Venture Exchange for the 30-day period.

"This acquisition is consistent with our long-term strategy of acquiring promising, early stage gold projects where we can add value through focused exploration and mine building,'' Agnico president and CEO Sean Boyd said in a statement.

"This strategy has served us well in Mexico and we believe that the Cayden properties are a very good fit with our existing southern operations and skill sets.''

Agnico shares closed down 86 cents or 2.27 percent at $37.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange Monday, while Cayden stock finished down 12 cents or 3.91 per cent at $2.95. At Monday's Agnico share price, the deal would value Cayden at about $3.35 per share.

The deal is subject to approval by Cayden security holders, Mexican anti-trust and other regulatory approvals and court approval, is expected to close by the end of the year.

Agnico Eagle is currently engaged in exploration and development activities across its nine mines located in Canada, Finland, Mexico and in the United States.

Agnico teamed with Yamana Gold in a $3.9-billion friendly deal earlier this year to acquire Osisko Mining Corp., whose main asset was the Canadian Malartic gold mine northwest of Val D'Or, Que.