part of the article. A bidding war may happen sooner than we think.

Here we have a primary chromitite deposit which is very high grade, 40 per cent or more chrome, and (with) very thick widths," he says. "This could be the biggest deposit of its kind on the globe."

Smeenk says the in-situ value of an open-pittable resource of this magnitude could be in the billions of dollars and, if proven, such a large deposit could have the potential to supply the entire North American market.

He believes that Cliffs is the perfect partner, since it is the principal supplier to the North American steelmaking industry.

"In that context, they thought that if there was ever an opportunity to get a source of chrome, they should seize it."