Lundin has been in hot pursuit of Nevsun for more than 18 months and launched a string of takeover proposals, culminating in the company taking the offer directly to shareholders on July 26.

The company viewed Nevsun's Timok assets, in Serbia, as an attractive addition to its portfolio.

Zijin Mining Group on Wednesday stepped forward to beat the hostile pursuit for control of Nevsun by Lundin, offering C$6 (US$4.57) a share to acquire all issued and outstanding Nevsun shares in a deal valued at C$1.86 billion. The price reflects a 57% premium over Nevsun's unaffected closing price of C$3.82 on May 7, which was the day Lundin first publicly revealed its proposal to acquire Nevsun.

Lundin says it continues to pursue other strategic growth opportunities.

Its portfolio contains an estimated 3.67 million tonnes of copper, 3.37 million tonnes of zinc and 108,000t of nickel in the proven and probable reserve categories.