JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – US coal and iron-ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources plans to make takeover bids to acquire the shares it did not already own in TSX-Venture Exchange-listed KWG Resources and TSX-Venture Exchange-listed Spider Resources for a combined C$186-million.

By acquiring either of these two companies, Cliffs was hoping to obtain a majority ownership of the Big Daddy chromite project, in the McFaulds Lake area of Northern Ontario.

Cliffs held a 47% stake in the project, with KWG and Spider each owning a 26,5% stake.

The US miner informed shareholders in a statement on Monday that it would offer minerals exploration company KWG C$0,13 in cash for each KWG common share it wanted to acquire, which implied a total value of about C$100-million.

Further, it would also offer junior resource exploration company Spider Resources C$0,13 in cash for each common Spider share it wanted to acquire, with a total value of about C$86-million due to the junior miner.

Cliffs said that it had made a transaction proposal to both the KWG and Spider boards of directors earlier this month, but had not yet made any formal offers.

It planned to fund the proposed takeover bids from existing cash resources.

Cliffs Ferroalloys president William Boor commented that it would be a satisfactory outcome for Cliffs if either proposed acquisition were successful, leaving Cliffs as majority owner and operator of Big Daddy, with one junior partner.

The company planned to develop its wholly owned Black Thor deposit, which was larger and wider than the Big Daddy project, as well as its Black Label chromite deposit first.

"However, obtaining control of Big Daddy would enable Cliffs to develop the most appropriate integrated long-term mine plan for moving this new mining district forward," said Boor.

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