Austral Resources Australia has won the contest for Hammer Metals with an $80.7 million offer, adding a large exploration package in Queensland’s Mount Isa district to its copper portfolio after Larvotto Resources opted not to match it. Hammer Metals shareholders will get about 1.29 Austral shares for each Hammer share they hold, plus a stake in a spin-off company holding Hammer’s Western Australian gold assets, taking the total implied value to 8.7 cents per share. Austral shareholders will hold close to 69 per cent of the combined company and Hammer shareholders the other 31 per cent, giving the group a market capitalisation of more than $250 million. What drew Austral to Hammer sits about 60km from its Rocklands processing plant near Cloncurry. The scheme goes before Hammer shareholders and the court between September and November, with implementation targeted for November.