Australia’s Foreign Review Investment Board approved the investment by CCMD in February.

Project owner Asia Iron, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered SINOM Investments, will now issue new shares to CCMD.

CCMD has released a $40-million prepayment, with completion of the transaction subject to other conditions, including CCMD receiving approvals and signoffs from other relevant Chinese regulatory authorities. These were expected within the next month.

Following completion, the parties will immediately start preliminary works for the project development.

Under the terms of the agreements, funding for the development of stage one of the Extension Hill magnetite project, which will target production of ten-million tons a year of high-grade iron-ore magnetite concentrate, will be provided by proportional debt and equity contributions from CCMD and SINOM, along with project debt financing from a Chinese bank.

The Extension Hill project has a Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant reserve of over 200-million tons, and a resource of 240-million tons grading in excess of 68% iron.

The iron ore production touched 125.0 million metric tons over the year and 31.2 million tons in the fourth quarter, level with the third quarter.

Current quarter production was impacted by tie-in activities at Western Australia Iron Ore as Rapid Growth Project 4 continues to ramp up. Following demand related production adjustments, Samarco returned to full production during the year ended June 2010, delivering a record result for the operation.

For the 2010 financial year, 39% of Western Australia Iron Ore shipments on a wet metric tonne basis were priced on annually agreed terms, with the remainder sold on a shorter term basis. During the second half of the financial year, the old benchmark pricing system was substantially replaced by shorter term market based, landed pricing. Our expectation is that future Western Australia Iron Ore shipments will be priced on this basis.

Cape Lambert would gain a 33% stake in the Marampa rail and Pepel port, jointly known as the Marampa infrastructure, for a $45-million investment in the refurbishment of the infrastructure.

African Minerals would retain a 57% holding in the Marampa infrastructure, while the Sierra Leone government would hold a 10% stake.

African Minerals, through a special purpose vehicle, would oversee the refurbishment and daily operation of the infrastructure, which would be completed by March.

Once the refurbishment of the Marampa infrastructure is completed, Cape Lambert would have the rights to a minimum throughput of two-million tons a year.

Meanwhile, African Minerals was also looking to construct a new railway line to link its Tonkolili iron-ore project with the new port at Tagrin, at which time it would cease using the Marampa infrastructure.

Cape Lambert chairperson Tony Sage said that the company has been granted an option to match any third-party offer to acquire African Minerals’ stake in the Marampa infrastructure, which could be exercised once the Tonkolili infrastructure was operational.

“This agreement ensures the Marampa iron-ore project has access to suitable infrastructure, which we expect will provide a significant value uplift when we come to sell the project” sage said.

In November, Cape Lambert increased its shareholding in the Marampa project from 35% to 100%, when it acquired the balance of the project from African Minerals in a deal valued at around A$31-million.

The project comprises 305 km2 of granted exploration licence, an inventory of haematite tailings and a brownfield exploration tenement representing the extension of haematite mineralisation to the north and west of the former Marampa mining operations, as well as a number of regional exploration targets.

The resource total for the project has now reached 297,2-million tons, up 7% from the previous resource estimate.

FerrAus CEO Mike Amundsen said on Wednesday that the resource upgrade was another critical step to underpin the prefeasibility study and the pathway to allow the Pilbara project to make its first ore shipment during the fourth quarter of 2013.

“The infill drilling programme has been very successful in enhancing the overall confidence of our resource base necessary to support the prefeasibility study, with 75% of the total high-grade ore resource base now classified as measured and indicated.”

Amundsen noted that the prefeasibility study for the Pilbara project was due for completion within the next few moths, and each resource upgrade for the project provided the company with greater certainty that it would be able to achieve the 15-million ton a year production target.

“We are aiming to prove up a total resource of 400-million tons by the end of this calendar year with continuing exploration drilling of the many targets yet to be tested,” he added.

Once the prefeasibility study has been completed, FerrAus would move to immediately start its definitive feasibility study, which was scheduled to be completed in early 2011.

Vale has now increased its participation in Belvedere to 75,5% from 51%.

AMCI, Vale and joint-venture partner (JV) Aquila Resources jointly own the project.

Vale stated that its preliminary estimates have found that once it was fully developed, Belvedere could reach a production capacity of up to seven-million tons a year of coking coal.

“Investment in the coal business is an important part of Vale’s growth strategy,” the Brazilian mining giant said.

The Belvedere coal JV currently holds an on-site resource in excess of 3,8-billion tons, of which 1,5-billion tons is classified in the indicated category, and 2,3-billion tons in the inferred category.

Subject to the completion of all necessary feasibility studies and the receipt of regulatory approval, the Belvedere project is planned to start exporting coal by 2014.

Vale has coal operating assets and a portfolio of exploration projects in Australia and Colombia, and minority interests in two JVs in China. Vale was also developing the Moatize project in Mozambique and has mineral exploration initiatives in several other countries.

Clifford was laughing away and the lads could well have been amused to have together amassed a net worth exceeding $50 million courtesy of their exploitation of Australia’s mineral wealth during the China boom.

Indeed, even after all these claims that the proposed RSPT has smashed resource company share prices, the combined market capitalisation of BHP and Rio today is about $400 billion.

That’s more than the market capitalisation of the world’s most valuable company,  Texan oil giant Exxon-Mobil, which is this morning capitalised at $US285 billion ($A341 billion).

Rio Tinto director Sir Rod Eddington last night entered the fray slamming the Rudd government’s policy-making process and failure to consult.

This was a powerful hit given Sir Rod is chairman of Infrastructure Australia and also chaired the long since disbanded business advisory council, which Kevin Rudd established when opposition leader.

However, there is one fundamental problem with the mining industry’s complaints about a lack of consultation — they would never have agreed to such a monumental tax slug anyway.

Like most democracies, a combination of unprecedented stimulus spending and plunging revenues has left Australia structurally in deficit. In our case, the debt-funded government spending by Canberra and the states exceeds revenues by about $80 billion a year, much of which is borrowed offshore.

Rather than sending more than $50 billion a year offshore to the foreign owners of more than $500 billion worth of Australian resources projects, surely it makes sense to tax more of this capital flow given that prices for commodities such as iron ore have increased six-fold over the past decade.

This would improve Australia’s current account deficit and the Budget position of the federal government, which, in turn, is the largest financier of state spending.

If you asked the community who they’d like to see a $10 billion annual tax slug imposed on, then the obvious answer is foreign mining companies, which are making out like bandits.

None of this excuses the incompetent political selling job that Kevin Rudd is doing, prompting Alan Kohler to label its spin a disgrace on Business Spectator this morning.

While Rudd should be flogged for his reckless stimulus spending, backflips and sneaky spin, commentators who are railing against the RSPT should nominate the sector they believe should instead cop a tax slug, or the proposed austerity measures that should be imposed.

Elected officials have a duty to extract maximum value for public assets. A mining concession is like one on-going privatisation program and Australia has the world’s best dowry and the world’s most foreign-owned resources sector, largely due to the incompetence of the Australian Directors Club in squandering the assets over several decades.

Look no further than MIM’s ridiculous sell out to Xstrata in 2003, something Paul Keating, MIM CEO Vince Gauci and even Robert Gottliebsen were in furious agreement about opposing at the time.

Despite what Zug-based Xstrata CEO Mick Davis might claim in his letter to the Financial Times this morning, his company has more than tripled the $18 billion it has invested in Australia over the past decade.

The same goes for Rio Tinto and BHP. When the BHP board gave away 42% of the company to Billiton in 2001, this was only worth about $25 billion at the time.

Today 42% of BHP is worth about $100 billion. No wonder former Billiton and BHP-Billiton CEO Brian Gilbertson claims that he still gets thanked by fund managers whenever he visits Cape Town for giving them exposure to such wonderful Australian assets.

Gilbertson, by the way, has so far collected more than $20 million from his exposure to Australia’s resources dowry and is on an indexed pension for life that is presently running at almost $2 million a year.

If BHP-Billiton has to pay an extra $2 billion a year in tax to Canberra, it will still be valued by the market at close to $200 billion and London-based Gilbertson will still collect his outrageously excessive pension.

“The company will pursue investments in overseas mines more aggressively to secure raw materials,” Chief Executive Officer Chung Joon Yang said at a shareholder meeting in Seoul. Posco may buy a stake in a coal mine in Mozambique, it said in documents prepared for the meeting, without details on costs.

Steelmakers globally are facing soaring costs, with analysts forecasting that suppliers of coal and iron ore may ask for as much as an 86 percent jump in prices this year. The global steel market has bottomed and will grow by 9.2 percent in 2010 as demand rebounds in the U.S., Europe and Japan, the World Steel Association said last October.

“Economies at home and abroad are on a recovery path now, but the outlook for a full recovery is uncertain,” Chung said today. “We expect competition among steelmakers to increase.”

Pohang, South Korea-based Posco, which has risen 68 percent in the past year, was unchanged at 530,000 won in Seoul trading today, compared with a 0.5 percent advance in the local benchmark Kospi.

Iron Ore Mine

To meet rising iron ore needs, Posco said it will buy as much as a 15 percent stake in the Roy Hill project in Australia. Last year, Posco bought a 16.7 percent stake in Jupiter Mines Ltd., it said today. The Korean steelmaker purchased a 10 percent stake in Macarthur Coal Ltd., the biggest exporter of pulverized coal, in 2008.

Posco is planning a record 9.3 trillion won ($8 billion) in capital spending for 2010, up from 4.9 trillion won in 2009.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest exporter of coking coal, may raise prices to $240 a metric ton this year, up from $129 a ton a year ago, UBS AG said Feb. 18. Prices of iron ore may rise 40 percent this year, Moody’s Investors Service’s analyst Matthias Hellstern wrote in a Feb. 22 report.

Posco is planning $30 billion of overseas expansion in India, Indonesia and Vietnam to regain its spot as Asia’s largest steelmaker.

“We will go ahead with overseas mill plans in countries including India and Indonesia in order to strengthen the company’s status as a global player,” Chung said.

The opencut iron-ore mine would initially produce 20-million tons a year, increasing to 25-million tons by 2011.

“This is a great day for Rio Tinto and for the Pilbara,” said Rio CEO for iron-ore and Australia, Sam Walsh.

“Mining in the Robe Valley has been an integral part of the north-west economy for decades, and this new mine will ensure it continues to contribute to the benefit of the wider community.”

The Robe River joint venture (JV), in which Rio held a 53% share, started construction of the mine and rail extension in November 2007.

The mine would employ about 220 people, drawn progressively from the existing work force at Robe River’s main deposit, Mesa J near Pannawonica, and new employees.

The total high-grade reserves across the Mesa A/Warramboo deposits are estimated at around 249-million tons, with a total mine life of 11 years.

It would sustain production of the Robe Valley pisolite ore at 32-million tons a year, as production from the Mesa J deposit decreased.

Rio noted that the first full-length train left the mine late on Friday, following the 49-km rail extension to connect to the Deepdale railway running from Pannawonica to the Cape Lambert port.

In 2007, when the investment into the Mesa A/ Warramboo project was announced, Walsh noted that the new mine was “integral” to the Pilbara production platform underpinning Rio Tinto’s rapid expansion of its global network of assets.

Walsh noted that the mine demonstrated Rio’s strategy for substantial investment in high-quality, long-life, and low-cost assets.

The balance of the Robe River JV belongs to investment firm Mitsui, which holds 33%, Nippon Steel, which holds 10,5%, and Sumitomo Metal Industries, which holds the remaining 3,5%.

According to Rio Tinto’s website, Robe River is the world’s fourth-largest seaborne trader in iron-ore and sells primarily into Japan, Europe and Asia.

Kumba estimates that, based on a complex formula, the royalty charge could see the company paying out the equivalent of three to seven percent of revenue. Based on 2009 revenue of R23.4bn, this could come to R1.64bn annually at the upper end or R702m at the lowest end of the spectrum.

Kumba upgrades the iron ore it mines to a 66% iron content for example, which significantly enhances the value of the raw ore it extracts, which has an iron content of between 55% to 61%.

The discussion is about what percentage value Kumba is adding and what royalty charge should be levied.

“We should finalise that in the next month or so and then that will determine the percentage royalty we’ll pay,” Kumba CEO Chris Griffith told Miningmx.

Impala Platinum estimates that based on current platinum prices it will pay R60m in royalties for the four months from April to end-June , Impala Platinum CEO David Brown told Miningmx on Thursday after releasing the group’s interim results.

The scale of the payments are important because Kumba is embarking on an aggressive growth strategy, part of which is already underway at its Sishen South project now called Kolomela, an R8.5bn project to boost iron ore production to a total 53.5 by 2013. Of that exports are tagged at 47 million tonnes.

Kumba intends increasing net debt to between R12bn and R13bn by 2012 from R6bn at the end of this year. “We want to grow our level of debt to get our optimum cost of capital to cost of equity to cost of debt ratios. We see it as a natural progression,” said chief financial officer Vince Uren.

Most of the increased debt will be incurred by expansion projects. For example, Kumba expects a capital expenditure bill of up to R6bn in 2011.

Kumba reckons, if all goes well, it could lift production to 70 million tonnes by 2019, exploiting further resources in the Northern Cape province, where its Sishen operations are situated, and in Limpopo province where it has a 50/50 exploration joint venture at Zandspruit with ArcelorMittal.

The 2019 production figure does not include the roughly 2.5 million tonnes from the Thabazimbi mine, which will close around 2016.

In an arbitration hearing, ArcelorMittal SA was excluded from equity participation in the Kolomela project. Kumba reckons that decision is preserving $280m.

Kumba’s view of the debate raging in the global iron ore market about benchmark prices versus index or spot prices is that it wants long-term contracts for its ore, which ensures it receives a premium that it wouldn’t get selling it to faceless buyers on the open market.

However, within those contracts prices will be set according to the prevailing system in the market, be it shorter-term price fixes, index prices or benchmark prices.

“The raw materials industry is highly concentrated and suppliers in recent years have had significant pricing power,” ArcelorMittal said in its 20F annual report published at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Further consolidation among suppliers — for example, the announced iron ore joint venture between mining companies BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto — would exacerbate this trend.”

The world’s three largest iron ore miners — Brazil’s Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton — accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the world’s sea-borne traded iron ore market in 2008.
Rio Tinto and BHP announced near the end of last year plans to create an iron ore joint venture that would reduce production costs and produce iron ore more quickly by combining mining operations in Western Australia. Sales and marketing would be kept separate from the joint venture.

Steelmakers around the world, particularly those that depend on other miners for a substantial portion of their iron ore requirements, are adamantly opposed to the merger.

The World Steel Association and other regional steel associations have all urged relevant authorities to reject the joint venture on grounds that it would concentrate too much iron ore pricing power in the hands of an even smaller group of mining companies.

Yesterday, Australia’s biggest steelmaker, Bluescope, lashed out at BHP-RIO iron ore merger and BHP’s plan to scrap annual iron ore pricing. Click here to read the story by The Australian’s Matt Chambers.

ArcelorMittal is likely to be less affected by the joint venture than some of its peers since it benefits from substantial captive sources of iron ore and coal. In 2009, ArcelorMittal was 60 per cent self-sufficient in iron ore and 20 per cent self-sufficient in metallurgical coal, another ingredient used in steelmaking.

Nevertheless, the steelmaker still purchases a significant portion of its raw materials under long-term supply contracts, and therefore depends on outside sources such as Vale for iron ore.

The three miners are expected to seek a 40 per cent rise in annual benchmark prices in 2010, according to industry analysts, after agreeing to a 28 per cent to 33 per cent cut in annual prices during 2009 when the global economic demand took a bite out of steel demand.

Vale and BHP have also signalled their desire to push towards a short-term iron ore price system rather than an annual benchmark system where prices are negotiated annually between the world’s three largest miners and Asian steelmakers, the world’s largest steel producers.

ArcelorMittal said in its report that such a move toward spot iron ore sales rather than long-term fixed-price contracts would cause steelmakers to “face increased exposure to production cost and price volatility, which may in turn reduce their access to reliable supplies of raw materials”.

The company said any prolonged interruption in the supply of raw materials or energy, or increases in costs which ArcelorMittal cannot pass on to its customers, could adversely affect its business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects.

The traditional annual price negotiation system has become outdated due to wilder fluctuations in steel demand and foreign exchange rates, Chief Executive Marius Kloppers was quoted as saying in an interview with the Nikkei.

Japanese steelmakers are opposed to a shift to a shorter contract period, saying frequent changes in costs would hurt the business of its customers.

Major customers for Japanese steelmakers such as Nippon Steel Corp include auto makers, shipbuilders and electronics manufacturers.

But Kloppers was quoted as saying by the Nikkei on Saturday that it is not acceptable to continue using the existing system just for iron ore and coking coal now that the pricing mechanism for fuel coal has been shifted to a market price-based system.

Macmahon said under the contract extension, it would continue to provide a complete mine service including drill and blast, mining, crushing and train loading at the site.

“Macmahon has been working at Orebody 18 and Wheelarra since February 2006 and this current extension will deliver an increased level of production at the sites,” the company said in a statement.

Macmahon chief executive Nick Bowen said it was a significant award for the company and demonstrated the value that Macmahon provided to its clients.

The company said it expected to boost its workforce at the site from 330 to 380.

Macmahon will release its half year results tomorrow.
Macmahon shares were up one cent, or 1.59 per cent, to 64 cents at 8.20am.

Shanghai Municipal Intermediate People’s Court announced today that it had accepted the charges against Australian Stern Hu and his three Chinese colleagues after a six-month inquiry.

It is now certain that the four will face trial and are likely to be convicted. Under the commercial secrets charge, courts can jail people for up to three years, or up to seven years in “especially serious” cases.

The prosecutor’s office indicated that police had come up with sufficient evidence to proceed with charges of bribery and possession of commercial secrets.

It said: “The accused four, including Stern Hu, exploited their positions to seek gain for others, and numerous times either sought or illegally accepted massive bribes from a number of Chinese steel firms.”

The prosecutor’s office said that Chinese companies had been the victims.

“Many times they used personal inducements and other improper means to obtain commercial secrets from Chinese steel firms, causing serious consequences for the steel firms concerned,” it said.

Wang Hong, lawyer for Chinese Rio Tinto employee Zhang Peihong, told The Times that he was able to see his client frequently and that he was being well treated.

Mr Wang declined to discuss details of the case: “It is not appropriate,” but said he expected the case to come to trial very soon after the end of the week-long Chinese new year holiday that begins on Sunday.

The four men were arrested in July on the more serious charges of stealing state secrets – a capital offence in China.

However, as the investigation proceeded, the accusations were lowered to industrial espionage, focusing on alleged bribery during high-stakes iron ore contract talks.

Rio Tinto’s China team were responsible for negotiating and managing details of term contracts for iron ore, which is hugely in demand from China’s vast steel industry. They also tracked market information.

Rio Tinto maintains the four have done nothing wrong.

The formal charges against the Rio Tinto four come just as China is beginning annual price talks with the Australia miners, Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

Last year, the China Iron and Steel Association, which took over representing iron ore buyers in the negotiations, failed to reach agreement on term prices with top suppliers and left mills to pay spot prices.

China has tried to strengthen its position with the Government unifying the price for iron ore imports, cutting the number of mills permitted to import ore and forcing small mills to buy via a licensed importer.

But China’s demand is so huge, and the quality of its domestic ore so poor, that steelmakers are forced to import huge volumes from Australia and other foreign producers.

China is expected to face a demand for a higher iron ore price in this year’s talks, and the price is likely to face upward pressure as prices of other imported raw materials also rise.

Imports of iron ore slipped to 46.62 million tonnes after reaching 62.16 million tonnes in December, the second-highest monthly volume ever, the country’s General Administration of Customs said on Wednesday.

The January import total was the second-lowest monthly figure since January 2009 and was just fractionally higher than the 45.5 million tonnes imported in October, when China took a week-long national holiday.

Net exports of steel products decreased to 1.54 million tonnes, halting a rebound from a slump that turned into net imports in early 2009. January’s imports of steel products fell to 1.35 million tonnes while exports fell to 2.89 million tonnes.

China’s steel industry attracted record volumes of iron ore in 2009, mainly from Australia, Brazil and India. Customs did not issue a breakdown of the January figure, but detailed data will be available later in the month.

The slowdown in shipments coincided with an unexpectedly harsh winter that snarled up transport and caused sea ice to disrupt shipping at several major ports.

January also saw moves by the People’s Bank of China to tighten monetary supply, a change of direction after a year of loose lending that immediately spooked commodity markets.

Traders have said China’s iron and steel markets have begun slowing down as February’s Lunar New Year holiday approaches.

During the month, Baosteel (600019.SS: Quote), whose pricing decisions normally set the tone for the industry as a whole, surprised the market when it decided to hold off on planned price rises for February — but traders suggested the move was aimed at taking the heat out of the iron ore market before benchmark price negotiations with foreign miners begin.

The slowdown in iron ore shipments could be repeated this month because of the Lunar New Year holiday, which runs through next week.

On the day BHP completed the controversial sale of its loss-making Ravensthorpe laterite project to Canada’s First Quantum Minerals for $US340 million ($388 million), or about 15 per cent of its development cost, BHP was yesterday at pains to highlight a record half-yearly performance by Nickel West, its remaining WA nickel business.

When BHP shut Ravensthorpe a year ago and cut operations at Nickel West’s flagship Mt Keith asset, analysts tipped a wholesale exit from the stainless steel commodity.

Rumours of a Nickel West sale to Canadian or Chinese interests have since resurfaced as BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers yesterday claimed “we like the businesses that we are in”.

A furnace rebuild at the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter along with cost cutting enabled Nickel West to report record half-yearly production and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $US65 million for the six months to December 31, compared with a $US506 million loss previously when Ravensthorpe was weighing the division down.

An improved performance by BHP’s stainless steel materials division, which includes Nickel West, was a highlight in the miner’s report of a pre-exceptional attributable profit of $US5.7 billion for the December half.

The result was down 7 per cent on the $US6.1 billion profit achieved in the December 2008 half, when commodity prices were much higher, but easily surpassed analysts’ expectations of about $US5.1 billion.

The December half featured a 17.5 per cent revenue fall to $US24.6 billion because of lower commodity prices. Higher production volumes, including a record performance by its Pilbara iron ore unit, and cost controls helped to limit the profit fall.

But applause for the better-than-expected profit was tempered by a lack of news on capital management initiatives by BHP, which is sitting on about $US8.4 billion in cash.

Net gearing is 15.1 per cent.

Although BHP increased its interim dividend by US1¢ to US42¢ a share, the miner did not announce a resumption of its share buyback.

Instead, Mr Kloppers spoke about “highly profitable growth options” that would soak up BHP’s cash.

BHP has $US8.9 billion earmarked for growth projects this year and $US11.5 billion next year. Only last month it approved a $US1.7 billion investment in the Pilbara.

BHP’s shares, which soared 3.4 per cent when the profit was announced, closed up only 3¢ at $39.88.

Mr Kloppers said he remained confident in the long-term outlook for commodities but “cautious about the speed and strength of the global economic recovery across the developed world despite the positive momentum in the developing countries”.
He also noted China’s attempt to curb inflationary pressures, describing it as another variable in the speed of the global recovery.

Marius Kloppers , chief executive, said many economies, notably the US, were still dependent on government stimulus.

He said such measures had helped drive recovery but had not addressed structural issues such as weak labour markets and excess production capacity in developed economies.

“A further variable will be the impact of any measures to control loan growth in China ,” he said.

He added that in the short term Beijing was focused on containment of asset inflation.

“We remain cautious about the speed and strength of the global economic recovery across the developed world.”

But longer-term prospects were “robust” on the back of growth in China and India, Mr Kloppers said.

BHP yesterday reported a rise in net profits from $2.62bn to $6.14bn in the six months to December 31, with profits excluding exceptional items down 7 per cent to $5.7bn, better than analysts’ forecasts.

BHP’s base metals, iron ore and metallurgical coal businesses performed better than expected, while the petroleum division disappointed because of lower oil and gas prices.

Company insider Chris Campbell has been named Mr Ashby’s replacement as head of iron ore.

Mr Campbell has been with the BHP Billiton group for 20 years and has experience in marketing, business development and project management, the company said.

His appointment will become effective as Mr Ashby’s workload in connection to the Rio Tinto joint venture increases, expecting in coming months.

BHP Billiton is the world’s largest resources company, with the iron ore division one of the main profit drivers.

The president of BHP’s iron ore division is in charge of operations in Brazil, West Africa and marketing of the company’s share of the WA joint venture with Rio Tinto.

BHP’s chief of ferrous and coal, Marcus Randolph, said Mr Campbell’s previous roles and deep history in the group would make him invaluable in his new position.

“I am delighted to have Chris on the team and believe that this structure will give additional focus to our non-Western Australia iron ore assets,” Mr Randolph said.
At 9.09am, BHP shares were up 50 cents, or 1.26 per cent, to $40.50.

ARM was also looking at acquisitions in the rest of the continent and had formed a joint venture with Vale to explore for copper in Zambia, while also looking at the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Mozambique.

“We are certainly on track for the first phase and the second phase (expansion) and see full production at the end of the year 2012, from 10-million tons per annum to 16 [mtpa],” CEO Andre Wilkens told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference.

Wilkens said his board would consider the Konkola North copper mine project later this year before announcing its terms, although it looked viable at this stage.

“The long-term copper price looks much stronger now than 18 months ago so it certainly makes that project viable,” he said.

ARM produces platinum, nickel, iron ore, manganese ore and coal, among others.

Wilken said the company intended to spend around R8-billion over the next two years, including this financial year, as it ramped up production and sought to make acquisitions in the rest of the continent.

“We are looking specifically at platinum in Zimbabwe to see what we can achieve there,” he said.

Zimbabwe, which has large undeveloped platinum reserves, is struggling to boost investments in its mining sector following years of neglect prompted by political violence and an economic collapse in the southern African nation.

Its indigenisation process, which aims at nationalising mines, has also caused consternation among investors and large mining companies, with Rio Tinto on Tuesday saying this remained a concern.

But Wilkens said ARM would invest in Zimbabwe if it made business sense.

“If we are able to get the license or the ownership of a sizeable ore body that makes a good business case we will go there,” he added.

The statement on its website did not clarify whether it was referring to the parent company or listed arm Ansteel Corp.

Ansteel’s steel output reached 20.13 million tonnes last year, while iron production stood at 20.51 million tonnes, both representing historical records, up around 25 percent from 2007.

The company also produced 19 million tonnes of rolled steel last year, according to the statement.

Ansteel President Zhang Xiaogang said in March last year that the company was targeting annual steel production at 45-50 million tonnes despite the downturn in demand.

If that’s a surprise to you, it’s mostly because lowly copper and lead just don’t call as much attention to themselves as gold. I didn’t see too many ads for copper or lead necklaces this holiday season, and I have never heard anyone brag about being a lead bug.

But, boy, have they captured investors’ attention since the start of 2009 because of their usefulness in heavy industry. Using exchange-traded funds tracking their futures prices as a measure, here are the numbers: Copper (JJC) is +131%; lead is (LD), +124%; steel (SLX) is +115%; nickel is +57%; and aluminum (JJU), is +36%.

A total of 3.44 billion tons of iron ore have been verified in five mines in the province, said Yan Xueyi, the bureau’s director.

The discovery of this deposit would largely ease the shortfall in China’s domestic iron ore supplies and contribute to a sound and sustainable development of the country’s steel industry, according to Yan.

China imported 443.56 million tons of iron ore in 2008, bringing the country’s reliance on imported iron ore to around 50 percent.

The country’s steel mills suffered an unfavorable position during the annual iron ore pricing talks as overseas miners allied to ask for a higher price.

The increases should take place “at an appropriate time” and “unreasonable restrictions” on imports should be cleared, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site outlining goals for next year. It didn’t identify the resources or elaborate on the timing of purchases.

Chinese state buying of raw materials for stockpiling in the first half helped lift commodity prices, with copper and zinc doubling this year. The government’s $586 billion stimulus plan also spurred buying, with imports of copper, soybeans and iron ore gaining to records.

“This will include copper, iron ore and uranium in our view,” Kevin Ji, an analyst at metal trader Ningbo Sunhu Chemical Products Co., said today. “Current prices are not good for stockpiling such resources, though the government should step up doing so once prices are appropriate.”

The State Reserve Bureau, which manages government stockpiles, has bought copper, aluminum, zinc, indium and titanium this year, Caijing magazine cited Yu Dongming, an official at the National Development and Reform Commission, as saying in June.

The country was not expected to continue reserve buying amid market conditions at that time as previous purchases reached the objective of bolstering prices, the magazine cited Yu as saying then.

Copper in London gained for a second day on optimism demand in China is increasing as the country’s imports of the metal rebounded from an 11-month low. Refined copper imports were 194,388 metric tons in November, up 15 percent from the previous month, the customs office said today.

Three-month delivery copper added 0.1 percent to $6,939.50 a metric ton by 12:39 p.m. in Shanghai.

In a statement, the ministry said total crude steel output was expected to reach a record of 571 million tonnes by the end of this year.

Total iron ore imports by the end of October stood at 514.8 million tonnes, up 36.75% compared with the same period of 2009.

China imported a total of 443.7 million tonnes of iron ore over 2008, and produced 500.49 million tonnes of crude steel.

The ministry, ahead of a conference on overcapacity problems in Chinese industry, said total production capacity at China’s steel mills had already reached 700 million tonnes.