Just thought some people may be interested in these figures and...

Just thought some people may be interested in these figures and information about Olympic Dam . This is why everyone quotes Olympic dam in such hallowed terms .

MELBOURNE, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Australian miner WMC Resources Ltd. (ASX: WMR.ax) has raised the minerals estimate at its largest mine, seeking to boost its value as it fights off a A$7.4 billion ($5.8 billion) takeover bid from Swiss-based Xstrata Plc. XTA.L.

WMC increased its estimate of total mineral resources at the Olympic Dam uranium, copper and gold mine in outback South Australia by 29.2 percent, and said drilling results had improved the economics for a possible A$4 billion expansion there.

Analysts said the market had factored in increased resource estimates at the mines and there would be no rush to accept Xstrata's offer of A$6.35 a share -- opening the way to a possible bidding war.

"A line has been drawn in the sand and it is just a matter of whether or not someone else wants to cross it," said Invesco Australia resources analyst Rick Ronge.

"If it takes a while for another company to appear, then people will start to see 6.35 as more attractive."

Shares in WMC, which has rejected the offer as inadequate, closed steady at A$7.18 in a higher market.

A source close to WMC said the board had not yet decided if it would allow prospective bidders look at company data. Analysts said that to do so now could hasten a sale at too low a price.

Other bidders could include BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc. (ASX: BHP.ax) BLT.L, Rio Tinto Ltd./Plc. (ASX: RIO.ax) RIO.L, Inco Ltd. N.TO, Phelps Dodge PD.N, Anglo American Plc. AAL.L and CVRD VALE5.SA RIO.N, analysts said.

WMC said drilling results and a 29 percent increase in its long-term uranium price assumption to A$30 a pound had prompted it to increase its estimate of mineral resources at Olympic Dam by 29.2 percent to 3.8 billion tonnes at a copper-equivalent grade of 2.2 percent.

A higher uranium price would allow WMC to go after lower grade ore that would otherwise not be worth mining.

COSTS STILL UNKNOWN

"Based on these new estimates, Olympic Dam now contains the world's fourth-largest remaining copper and gold resources, up from seventh previously," WMC Chief Executive Andrew Michelmore said in a statement.

It raised its estimate of copper by 7 million tonnes to 42.7 million tonnes, raised the uranium estimate by 230,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes, and increased the gold estimate by about 24 percent to 55.1 million ounces.

Allianz Dresdner Asset Management analyst Gavin van der Wath said the estimates still lacked certainty and it would be some years before the cost of digging out the minerals was clear.

Olympic Dam represents about 60 percent of WMC's assets but has been a source of investor frustration due to plant failures, cost blow outs, missed production forecasts and poor returns.

It is forecast to produce about 220,000 tonnes to 230,000 tonnes of copper this year and more than 4,000 tonnes of uranium.

A decision on a preferred mining option that could more than double production is expected in early 2005, with development study results due in early 2006.

Xstrata's bid for WMC follows its A$3.4 billion acquisition last year of Australian copper and coal miner MIM, another company that has regularly disappointed investors.

Since then, coal and copper prices have soared on Chinese demand, leaving former MIM investors on the sidelines of a boom.

Perennial Growth Management partner Ken West said the expansion plans could encourage WMC shareholders to hold out for a higher price from Xstrata, particularly if they thought the Swiss-based company picked up MIM cheaply. (US$1=A$1.27)