MELBOURNE: Global miner BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc announced yesterday an all-cash bid of A$9.2bil for uranium and copper firm WMC Resources Ltd, topping a hostile A$8.2bil offer by Switzerland-based Xstrata Plc.
Analysts said the move by BHP Billiton could draw out a higher offer for WMC, which controls 38% of the world’s known uranium reserves at its Olympic Dam mine in southern Australia and is the world’s fifth largest nickel producer.
