Thomson Reuters






Sept 26 (Reuters) - Miners, including Mineral Resources Ltd
and Mount Gibson Iron Ltd, might be interested
in the Australian assets of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc
, Bloomberg said in a report on Friday.


The assets could fetch as much as AUD$1 billion (US$876
million), Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of
the matter.


Cliffs had been locked in a proxy battle with New York-based
hedge fund Casablanca Capital, which owns 5.2 percent of the
U.S. iron ore and coal producer's stock, and accused the company
of destroying shareholder value.


Casablanca eventually won the proxy battle when its slate of
directors were elected to the company's board in July. Cliffs
named Lourenco Goncalves as chief executive in August.


Goncalves, who was the preferred CEO candidate of
Casablanca, has said in a statement that he intended to refocus
Cliffs "on a new strategic path" that builds on its strengths.


In an interview with Reuters in February, Goncalves said he
would focus on supplying iron ore to steel makers in the United
States, not selling into the competitive global iron ore market,
if he became Cliffs CEO.


Analysts said Goncalves could pursue the sale of three of
the company's four operating segments: its Asia-Pacific iron ore
business, its eastern Canadian iron ore operations and its North
American coal unit.


Jefferies Group LLC is advising Cliffs on the possible sale
of Australian assets, while Deutsche Bank AG is working on the
divestment of U.S. coal operations, Bloomberg said.


Cliffs was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Krishna Chaithanya. Editing by Andre Grenon)