This should be great for the entire sector for these two reasons:

(1) I don't think Goldcorp would be making this move if they believed gold prices were still going to deteriorate

(2) Goldcorp has just said to the world "we have more knowledge about gold mining than most, and we believe that junior/intermediate gold producers' share prices have dropped way too much and we believe we are getting a bargain at these reduced prices."

BTW, generally in hostile takeovers the acuriror, will leave dry powder in terms of purchase price, since they realize that they will end up paying more, so I wouldn't read too much into the 15% premium.

WRT Probe, when companies start looking at acquisitions (and Goldcorp's bid is the canary in the mine shaft) they first start out with intermediate producers, move to junior producers and then move to advanced exploration companies (i.e. PRB). In my view this is good news, because I would not want a takeover bid, until the share price rises significantly (read multiples of where it is at today).