SYDNEY, Sept 11 - U.S. miner Cleveland-Cliffs Inc <CLF.N> made a friendly A$560 million ($450.5 million) offer to buy out Australian iron miner Portman Ltd <PMM.AX> on Thursday, and is seeking a 30 percent stake in a second Australian miner.

Its A$21.50-a-share bid for Portman represents a 21 percent premium to Portman's closing price of A$17.70 on Wednesday.

Portman, already owned 85.19 percent by Cleveland-Cliffs, said on Thursday its independent directors felt "the likelihood of a superior offer being received from a third party is remote".

The independent directors would recommend the offer in the absence of a higher bid, pending an opinion supporting the transaction by accountants KPMG.

Separately, Cleveland Cliffs agreed to pay A$26 million for shares and options over 30 percent of AusQuest Ltd <AQD.AX>, which is prospecting for manganese in west Australia.

Portman ended 19.2 percent higher at A$21.10, while Ausquest closed 50 percent up at A$0.285, though still less than half its share price in May.

Outside of Australia, Cleveland-Cliffs sales are confined mostly to Canada and the United States after pulverising relatively low-grade ores into tiny pellets favoured by steel-makers in North America.

Portman sells higher-grade ore from its mine in the far western Australian outback, mostly to China and some to Japan.

At the time of the initial acquisition of Portman shares in 2005, Cleveland-Cliffs made it clear it was looking to penetrate the Chinese market for raw steel making materials.

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