South African miner Metorex has stated that the world's largest iron ore producer Brazil-based Vale has said in a written notice that it will not submit a new offer to top China-based Jinchuan Group's bid to acquire Metorex.
Metorex also stated that Vale has agreed to terminate the proposed acquisition of Metorex.
Metorex will pay $10.8 million to terminate the agreement. Jinchuan Group offered 20 percent more than the Vale bid, offering $1.3 billion for the copper and cobalt producer.
Vale, seeking to increase copper output almost fivefold to 1 million mt in 2015, had until Friday to match or raise the bid for Metorex, which controls almost 5 million mt of African copper resources and which produced 26,358 mt in the second half of 2010.
Metorex is seen as a valuable asset for a number of reasons including exposure to copper and cobalt resources in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo at a time when the outlook for both commodities is strong.