(Bloomberg) -- A bidding war for a small Canadian nickel miner is showing no signs of cooling as its largest shareholder, Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest, took a formal step to increase ownership.
Forrest's Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. said it notified Noront Resources Ltd. to swap its $15 million convertible loan for common shares of Noront. That will increase Wyloo's equity ownership to about 37.3% from 24.2%, according to a statement Wednesday.
Wyloo has offered to buy Noront for C$0.70 per share, beating the C$0.55 offer made by BHP Group in July that Noront's board agreed to support. Wyloo said last month its proposal is more likely to succeed because it owns a chunk of Noront's shares and doesn't intend to support BHP's offer.
Mining heavyweight are racing to control more supplies of raw materials that are key to the transition to low-carbon energy sources. Noront has been developing one of Canada's largest potential mineral reserves, in a largely untapped northern Ontario region dubbed the Ring of Fire. Nickel is one of the key metals used in batteries for electric vehicles.
Canadian Nickel Miner Still Wants BHP Takeover, Shunning Forrest
Mining Magnate Forrest Snubs BHP Offer to Buy His Noront Shares
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