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Paul Bagnell

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Noront Resources Ltd., a company with numerous metals deposits in Ontario’s northern Ring of Fire region, announced on Monday that its board of directors has thrown its support behind a sweetened offer from Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. of Australia – and that puts the ball back in the court of mining goliath BHP Group Ltd.

Wyloo is now willing to pay $0.70 in cash per share for Noront, which puts a value of $324 million on the company.  That’s more than the $0.55 that BHP offered – and Noront accepted –in July.

It was Wyloo that kicked off the fight for Noront, when it offered $0.315 per share for Noront in May. That valued Noront at just $133 million.

Noront’s deposits in the Ring of Fire include copper, nickel, platinum, palladium and chromite.  Road access to the area remains a key obstacle to development, however.

Wyloo has been a major shareholder of Noront since early December of 2020 and now owns 37.25 percent of Noront shares.

BHP has the right to match the newest Wyloo offer. It has five days to do so, and no break fee is payable to Wyloo if BHP opts to pay as much for Noront as Wyloo has offered. However, if BHP does not come back to the table with a new offer, Noront said in a release Monday that Wyloo will provide it with a loan of up to $23 million to cover the $13-million break fee that would be owed to BHP, as well as other costs.