Central Asia Metals ups offer for New World

The takeover battle for Australian copper developer New World Resources (ASX: NWC) is heating up after Central Asia Metals (LSE: CAML) raised its offer shortly after Canada’s Kinterra Capital made its bid.

In an announcement Friday, the UK-based CAML proposed to increase its offer from A5.5¢ per share to A6.2¢, giving New World a fully diluted equity value of A$230 million (C$206 million). The offer takes the form of both a court-approved agreement under Australian regulations and an off-market takeover as its alternative.

Right before that, CAML bought approximately 253 million shares (equating to 7.1%) of New World at the offer price, and now holds 12.1% of its share capital.

CAML’s offer represents an 8.8% premium over that of Toronto-based private equity firm Kinterra, which offered A5.7¢ per share the day before. It is also 24% more than what CAML initially proposed on May 21, when it offered A5¢ per share.

New World, in a news release Friday, confirmed the increased offer, adding that neither CAML nor Kinterra has declared their offers to be “best and final”.

Shares of New World Resources closed Friday’s trading session at A6.5¢, with a market capitalization of A$228.4 million.

US copper portfolio

The Australian company holds three copper projects across the southwestern U.S. The most advanced is the Antler project in Arizona, which it considers to be one of the world’s “highest-grade emerging copper development projects”.

Located 15 km east of Yucca in northwestern Arizona, the Antler property is host to a high-grade, polymetallic deposit with a resource of 11.4 million tonnes grading 4.1% copper equivalent per tonne. This resource was used to underpin a 2024 prefeasibility study, which outlined a 12-year mine producing 341,100 tonnes of copper equivalent during that span.

The project’s post-tax net present value (discounted at 7%) is estimated at US$498 million, with an internal rate of return of 30.3% and a payback period of 3.3 years.

About 75 km southeast of Antler, New World also holds the exploration-stage Javelin project, which hosts a contiguous series of mining claims linked to high-grade volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits that it believes are of similar age and style to the Antler deposit.

In New Mexico, the company has the Tererro VMS project, which has a historical resource estimate of 5.8 million tonnes grading 1.96 grams gold per tonne, 1.02% copper, 0.24% lead, 1.46% zinc and 21.4 grams silver.