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Consolidated Thompson Shareholders Approve Plan of Arrangement
02/28/2011 - Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Limited's shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the plan of arrangement for Cliffs to acquire all of Consolidated Thompson's outstanding shares.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. announced that Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Limited's shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the plan of arrangement for Cliffs to acquire all of Consolidated Thompson's outstanding shares.
Approximately 76% of Consolidated Thompson's shareholders were represented in person or by proxy at Consolidated Thompson's special shareholder meeting last week, and approximately 97% of these shares were voted in favor of approving the plan of arrangement. Under the plan of arrangement, Consolidated Thompson's shareholders will receive $17.25 Canadian dollars in cash for each common share outstanding.
Cliffs has committed financing and liquidity sufficient to fund the purchase price, and expects to arrange for permanent financing by accessing the capital markets.
The acquisition, which is expected to close in early second quarter 2011, is subject to satisfaction or waiver of certain customary closing conditions, including obtaining the following regulatory approvals: Competition Act (Canada), Investment Canada Act, Canada Transportation Act, and China – Ministry of Commerce.
Cliffs Natural Resources, an international mining and natural resources company, is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of high and low volatile metallurgical coal. The company is organized through three geographic business units:
The North American business unit comprises six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Canada and six coal mines located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit comprises two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The Latin American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapa in Brazil.
Other projects under development include a biomass production plant in Michigan and Ring of Fire chromite properties in Ont., Canada. Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.
