(Yicai) Dec. 1 -- Jiangxi Copper's shares soared despite the Chinese miner, smelter, and processor of copper and gold seeing its two offers to take over Australian exploration firm SolGold rejected.

Jiangxi Copper [SHA: 600362] closed 9.2 percent higher at CNY40.86 (USD5.77) a share in Shanghai today. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 0358] jumped 10.2 percent to HKD33.80 (USD4.34).

Jiangxi Copper submitted non-binding cash offers to the board of SolGold on Nov. 23 and 28, both of which were turned down, the Nanchang-based company announced late yesterday. The second offer was for all outstanding shares of the target firm at 26 UK pence (34 US cents) per share, it added.

Based on SolGold's 3,002,773,641 share capital, Jiangxi Copper's latest offer values the target company at GBP781 million (USD1 billion), representing a transaction consideration of GBP686 million, with the Chinese firm already holding a 12.2 percent stake.

Regarding a potential new offer, Jiangxi Copper said that in accordance with the UK's Takeover Code, the firm may either publish a formal offer by 5.00 p.m. London time on Dec. 26, or issue a clear announcement to abandon the acquisition before that date.

Shares of SolGold [LON: SOL] surged 13 percent to 29.55 UK pence (39 US cents) in London on Nov. 28. The stock, which has fluctuated between 15.28 UK pence and 30.77 UK pence over the past month, soared 22 percent on Nov. 26 after rumors that Jiangxi Copper might make a second takeover bid first circulating among investors.

Jiangxi Copper acquired a 6.3 percent stake in SolGold in November 2022 by buying newly issued shares, before raising its holding to 12.2 percent by acquiring shares from SolGold Canada this March.

SolGold's core asset is the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry project in Ecuador, one of the world's top 10 undeveloped copper-gold mines, with proven mineral reserves of 540 million tonnes, including copper, gold, and silver resources. It also owns dozens of other mineral resource projects at various exploration stages.

Editor: Martin Kadiev