Fortescue Ltd, the Australian metals and green energy company, has completed the acquisition of all remaining shares of Alta Copper Corp., a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mineral exploration company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Nascent Exploration Pty Ltd. Pursuant to the arrangement, Nascent acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Alta Copper not already held by Nascent, with holders receiving $1.40 in cash per share, holders of options receiving $1.40 less the applicable exercise price per underlying share, and holders of deferred share units and restricted share units receiving $1.40 per underlying unit. 

The transaction was announced on December 14, 2025, when Alta Copper and Fortescue entered into a definitive arrangement agreement, with the purchaser at that time holding 33,638,304 Alta Copper shares, representing 35.7 percent of the issued and outstanding shares, and valuing the company at approximately $138.8 million on a fully diluted basis. The arrangement agreement contained customary deal-protection measures, including non-solicitation covenants applicable to Alta Copper and a right to match in favour of Fortescue, with a $3 million termination fee payable by Alta Copper to the purchaser in certain circumstances. 

The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the final order for the arrangement on January 30, 2026, and the transaction received clearance under the Investment Canada Act in early March 2026, with no order for further national security review. The acquisition closed via a statutory plan of arrangement under British Columbia law, consolidating Fortescue's full ownership of Alta Copper's Cañariaco copper project, an advanced-stage development spanning approximately 91 square kilometres in northern Peru. Following closing, Alta Copper applied to delist its shares and cease being a reporting issuer in Canada, becoming a wholly owned private subsidiary of Nascent.