The analysts at Shaw and Partners have issued a new research note on Austral following the deal's announcement and set a very bullish price target for the company, which I'll get to shortly.

First, let's look at the deal.

Building a regional copper resource

Austral will issue Hammer shareholders 1.29 Austral shares for each Hammer share held, valuing the shares at about 8 cents each.

Hammer shareholders will also retain shares in a new company to be spun out, which will hold Hammer's Western Australian gold assets.

The deal is being recommended by the Hammer board and major shareholders, who own about 16% of the company.

Austral Chair David Newling said regarding the transaction:

The execution of the Scheme Implementation Deed marks an important step in Austral Resources' strategy to build a leading Queensland copper company. Hammer's resource base and exploration portfolio are highly complementary to Austral Resource's existing operations, infrastructure and development plans. The combination creates a stronger regional platform, with the potential to unlock significant value through greater scale, infrastructure utilisation and future resource development. Importantly, the transaction delivers a substantial premium for Hammer shareholders while allowing them to retain meaningful exposure to the future growth of the combined business.

This ASX mining stock has some serious upside

Shaw and Partners said in a note to their clients that the deal provided another potential source of ore for Austral's Rocklands processing hub.

They added:

Key to the acquisition is Hammer's 39.2mt Kalman copper resource that provides a future feed source for Rocklands. By combining Kalman with Rocklands' existing 3mtpa processing infrastructure, Austral can extend and improve utilisation of its processing platform while building greater scale across its northwest Queensland copper business.

Shaw and Partners said beyond the Kalman resource, "the acquisition expands Austral's regional resource scale, widens its prospective exploration footprint, and maximizes long-term capacity utilisation across the Rocklands processing infrastructure''.

Austral also announced in early August that the Queensland Critical Minerals Fund had invested $15 million in the company through a non-dilutive royalty financing arrangement.

That funding is to support a stage 2 expansion of the Rocklands processing facility, and would initially fund a scoping study.

Shaw and Partners has a price target of 28 cents on Austral, compared to the current price of 6.5 cents.

The company is valued at $188.5 million.

The post This ASX mining stock could jump in value by more than 300%: Broker appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

During morning trade, the Hammer Metals share price reached a multi-year high of 10.5 cents. However, some apparent profit taking led the company's shares to retreat to (at the time of writing) 8.9 cents, up 18.6% for the session.

What did Hammer Metals announce?

The Hammer Metals share price is storming higher as investors digest the company's latest news.

According to its release, Hammer Metals advised that it has been given the green light to drill extra holes at the Trafalgar prospect. This follows on from the recent discovery of copper and gold deposits notified to the market last week. They included:

• 55 metre strike at 1.12% copper (Cu) and 0.30 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 119m including 16 metres at 1.77% Cu and 0.49g/t Au from 149 metres in HMTRRC001; and
• 32 metre strike at 1.04% Cu and 0.25g/t Au from 64 metres including 6 metres at 2.38% Cu and 1.45g/t Au from 91 metres in HMTRRC002

The company is planning to commence drilling in opposite directions of the new holes. In addition, a third hole of 80 meters will be drilled north of its HMTRRC001 intercept.

Once the drilling operations have been completed, Hammer Metals will analyse the results, and continue drilling again in April. In addition, the company will also complete drilling works at its Shadow, Toby East, Alpha, Charlie and Juliett prospects.

A quick take on Hammer Metals and Mount Isa

Hammer Metal is a minerals exploration company that is focused on gold, iron ore, and copper projects within Australia.

The Mount Isa project covers an area of roughly 2,200 square kilometres within the district, holding a strategic tenement position. The Trafalgar prospect is part of a Joint Venture agreement whereby Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) is in the process of earning a 60% interest, in return for spending $6 million on exploration activities by March 2024.

About the Hammer Metals share price

The Hammer Metals share price has soared higher over the last 12 months, reaching gains of above 300% for investors.

Its shares hit an all-time low in March but quickly rebounded in the months following. The Hammer Metals share price broke a fresh multi-year high of 10.5 cents today on the back of positive investor sentiment.

The post Here's why the Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX) share price reached a multi-year high appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.