The Federal Court of Australia has approved ASX-listed miner Independence Group’s takeover of fellow-listed Sirius Resources.

The merger agreement, which would see Sirius shareholders issued 0.66 of an Independence share for every one Sirius share held, along with a cash consideration of 52c a share, received shareholder approval earlier this month.

Sirius shareholders also approved a demerger of the Polar Bear and Scandinavian exploration assets, which included the recently discovered Baloo gold deposit, through a demerger scheme of arrangement into a separately listed company known as S2.

Independence MD Peter Bradford said on Thursday that the addition of Sirius’ Nova nickel project to Independence’s portfolio of assets created a leading Australian diversified mining company with a strong balance sheet and excellent current and future cash flows.

“We look forward to welcoming the former Sirius shareholders to the Independence register and to their continued support,” Bradford said.

He added that the development of the Nova project created continued shareholders value and was a key focus for Independence.

“This will be achieved through the delivery of the Nova optimization study and further derisking of the commissioning and operational phases of the project.”

Following the lodgment of the court orders with the Australia Securities and Investment Commission, Sirius shares would be suspended from trade at the close of business on Thursday.

The new Independence shares that would be issued as consideration for the Sirius shares would start trading on September 11.

Implementation of the takeover scheme was expected to occur on September 22, at which time Independence would acquire 100% of Sirius and would issue and pay the scheme consideration to Sirius shareholders.

• [Editor:Juan]