UPDATE 1-Australia's Bemax says recommends Saudi offer

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SYDNEY, May 27 (Reuters) - Bemax Resources Ltd BMX.AX, an Australian mineral sands producer, said on Tuesday it had recommended a A$301 million ($289 million) takeover offer from Saudi Arabia's National Titanium Dioxide Company, known as Cristal.

Cristal's offer of A$0.32 a share represents a 45 percent premium to Bemax's last closing price of A$0.22. It already holds 34.54 percent of Bemax's shares.

In a statement on Monday, Cristal said it intended to use Bemax to supply feedstock to its Millenium plant in Western Australia.

Titanium dioxide is used as a pigment to provide whiteness in the production of a wide variety of items from paints to toothpaste.

Cristal, the second-largest producer of titanium dioxide in the world and a unit of Saudi Arabian conglomerate Saudi National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) (2060.SE), bought the Millenium titanium dioxide pigment business from its U.S. owner in 2007 for about $1.3 billion.

Bemax said it had appointed Lonergan Edwards to provide a report on the fairness of the offer and has appointed Morgan Stanley and Hopgood Ganim Lawyers to advise it on the deal. ($1=A$1.04) (Reporting by Jonathan Standing)