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CANBERRA(Scrap Monster): Australia's Discovery Metals Ltd rejects takeover offer by a Chinese private equity firm valuing the copper miner at A$824 million. The company remained open to a higher bid.

Last week a team up was made by Cathay Fortune Corp (CFC), founded by Chinese billionaire Yu Yong, with the state-backed China-Africa Development Fund (CAD) to make an offer of A$1.70 a share.

If a new proposal has been put forward to the board by CFC and CAD Fund, it will consider and assess that new proposal on its merits, says Discovery in a statement to the stock exchange.

As the investors expected the deal to go ahead, the company's shares last traded at A$1.64, just below the offer price, the rejection was unexpected. Broker price targets before the bid ranged from A$0.80 to A$1.85 a share.

The offer from CFC and CAD failed to reflect the value of the company's management, operations and expansion plans, exploration potential and what it called the "scarcity value" of the company, according to Discovery's directors.

Boseto project in a region in Botswana is owned by Discovery that has been the focus of more than $10 billion in copper miner takeovers in the past two years.

One of the more bullish analysts on the stock, said the company could attract other bids, says Canaccord Genuity analyst Jean Francois Bertincourt. Discovery has an asset with substantial production, solid expansion potential and a very long mine life in a politically stable country, he added.