Central Australian Phosphate’s shares fell after Canadian gold miner Monument Mining withdrew from a two-way battle to take over the explorer.

Monument has instead struck an $8.8 million deal to buy a 51 per cent stake in Central’s Northern Territory phosphate projects.

It will pay $1.5 million up front, with the deal subject to shareholder approval.

Central’s shares fell 5.26 per cent to 1.8 cents on Thursday.

The pressure now falls on fellow suitor Rum Jungle Resources to come up with a better takeover offer than the $12.7 million Monument bid that Central rejected.

Rum Jungle’s shares shot up by 14.3 per cent, or two cents, to 16 cents.

Rum Jungle owns adjacent phosphate assets to Central Australian’s and wants to combine them.

The appeal for Monument is to make fertiliser by combining phosphate with sulfuric acid from its own Mengapur Polymetallic project in Malaysia.

Phosphate is seen by some as a good growth prospect as fertiliser is needed to help produce food for a growing global population.

Another Australian phosphate junior, UCL Resources, was recently in the spotlight when Omanian company Mawarid Mining made a generous $26 million cash bid and increased its stake to 47.5 per cent.