Canada's Copper Mountain Mining (TSX: CMMC) has obtained shareholder approval for its planned acquisition of Australian junior Altona Mining (ASX:AOH) in a deal worth A$93 million, or about $71m at today's rates.
Under the agreement, each Altona share will be exchanged for 0.0974 Copper Mountain shares, which equates to a 41.7% premium based on closing prices at the time of both companies first agreed on the deal, in November.
The transaction, qualified as a merger, gives Copper Mountain access to Altona's assets, which include $30 million in cash, a permitted development project in Queensland, Australia and a large mineral land tenure position in the highly prospective area.
Copper Mountain's main asset is the 75%-owned Copper Mountain open pit mine, in southern British Columbia, which is forecast to produce between 34,000 and 38,500 tonnes of the red metal this year
The combination of the two companies will result in a mid-sized copper miner, with an expected annual production of about 73,000 tonnes of the metal.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-April 2018, subject to applicable regulatory approvals.