Province wise output of iron ore in China in H1 of 2008

July 22nd (Steel Guru) – It is reported that China province wise output of iron ore in January to June 2008 total 391.38 million tonnes up by 25.8% YoY as compared to 311.05 million tonnes in January to June 2007.

	June’08	June’07	Change	J-June’08	J-June’07	Change
Total	81.56	64.15	27.1%	391.38	311.05	25.8%
Hebei	39.49	25.03	57.8%	178.34	130.40	36.8%
Liaoning	11.04	8.84	24.8%	56.93	48.42	17.6%
Mongolia	6.78	7.66	-11.6%	31.14	27.08	15%
Sichuan	4.35	5.69	-23.5%	27.91	22.09	26.4%
Shanxi	4.68	3.27	43.2%	19.38	14.60	32.8%
Anhui	1.54	1.41	9%	10.10	7.59	33%
Beijing	1.71	1.42	20.5%	9.35	8.41	11.3%
Shandong	1.61	1.67	-3.7%	8.70	8.31	4.8%
Guangdong	1.52	1.47	3.1%	6.31	5.29	19.4%
Yunnan	1.01	1.01	-0.8%	6.09	5.81	4.9%
Hubei	0.94	0.76	23.8%	4.89	4.37	12%
Jilin	0.84	0.76	10.4%	4.29	3.69	16.4%
Fujian	0.76	0.64	18.3%	4.26	3.37	26.5%
Xinjiang	1.28	0.83	54.9%	3.55	2.50	42.1%
Qinghai	0.64	0.50	28.3%	3.35	2.84	18.1%
Henan	0.67	0.50	34.1%	3.33	2.83	17.4%
Hainan	0.50	0.47	7.2%	2.84	2.40	18.5%
Jiangsu	0.53	0.44	20.5%	2.75	2.74	0.3%
Jiangxi	0.52	0.47	11.5%	2.38	1.98	20.2%
Gansu	0.29	0.23	24.8%	1.39	1.48	-5.7%
Chongqing	0.22	0.18	18.9%	1.21	1.04	16.5%
Hunan	0.34	0.59	-42.4%	1.12	2.31	-51.3%
Zhejiang	0.11	0.12	-3.9%	0.66	0.67	-1%
Guangxi	0.09	0.04	145.3%	0.48	0.21	125.3%
Guizhou	0.05	0.05	-1.5%	0.23	0.29	-19.3%
Heilongjiang	0.03	0.04	-28.7%	0.17	0.17	-1.2%
Ningxia	0.04	0.05	-24.4%	0.16	0.17	-0.9%
Sha’anxi	0.00	0.01	0%	0.03	0.03	-11.1%

(In million tonnes)

Ferrous Resources plans USD 6 billion investment program

July 21st (Steel Guru) – BNamerica reported that Brazilian miner Ferrous Resources do Brasil has unveiled a USD 6 billion, 2008 to 2014 business plan which includes acquisition of mining areas, implementation of projects, environmental remediation, research, purchase of equipment and construction of infrastructure.
Ferrous Resources do Brasil said it aims to reach iron ore output of 50 million tonnes per year by 2014 from the mines it already owns in Brazil.

Ferrous spokesperson said the goal is to reach 100 million tonnes per year by 2020, depending on the success of acquisitions and studies. The company expects to export most of its production. Created in 2007, Ferrous Resources is concentrating most of its works in southeast Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.

As per report, the idea is to start up at 1 million tonnes per year by December.

The report said to finance the investments, Ferrous owned by US, Australian and English investment banks plans to launch an IPO on the London Stock Exchange this year.

Ferrous Resources is presided by Mr Gilberto Mansur a geologist with over 35 years experience who has worked for Vale, Rio Tinto, Brazil’s geological survey CPRM, BP Minerals and Billiton Shell Metals.

Rio Tinto iron ore output in Q2 up by 13% YoY

July 17th (Steel Guru) – Rio Tinto said that its Q2 iron ore output up by 13% to a record on demand from China, the world’s biggest producer of steel.

Mr Tom Albanese CEO of Rio Tinto said that “These strong results show that we are continuing to expand to meet rapid demand growth in the developing world. We have set quarterly production records for iron ore, mined copper and alumina, thanks to increasing investment in growth projects and a management commitment to deliver more tonnes faster, while maintaining our focus on safety and costs.

He said that “The integration of Alcan is proceeding to plan and the business continues to perform well. I am particularly pleased to see how swiftly our Australian coal operations recovered from the first quarter floods.”

He added that “Chinese GDP is continuing to grow at around ten per cent per annum, demand is strong while supply remains constrained. Fundamentals, not financial speculation, are driving the record prices we are realizing across aluminum, copper, iron ore and coal and we see the same trends continuing into the future.”

Ferrexpo’s output report – June 2008

July 7th (Iron Ore Daily Post) – Ferrexpo has released its updated output report for June 2008. The document also brings production data for the first half this year and could be found at this link: Ferrexpo’s June 2008 Output Report.

KIOCL to begin Chikkanayakana mining by November 2009

June 27th (Steel Guru) – It is reported that Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited is likely to start mining operations at Chikkanayakana by November 2009.

The mine is expected to produce 1 million tonnes per annum of ore, out of a total requirement of 3.5 million tonnes per annum pellets plant. It is learnt that the following reserves allocation by the centre, the Karnataka government has awarded the mining lease to KIOCL for 116.55 hectare in Humbalghatta in Tumkur district. The deposit is estimated to have a mineable reserve of 10 million tonnes per annum.

Quebec’s iron ore industry heading for active times

June 23rd (The Gazette) – Quebec’s iron ore industry is heading for active times. Rio Tinto Group, parent of Canada’s Alcan and Iron Ore Co. of Canada, said today the Chinese steel industry has agreed to pay 79.88 to 96.5 per cent more for iron ore in the year ending April 30, 2009. Baosteel, China’s biggest steelmaker, negotiated on behalf of all the Chinese industry. The prices apply to iron ore produced at Rio’s Australian mines, but set a world standard because China is now the world’s biggest steelmaker. In March Rio said it will invest $500 million to raise annual capacity of its Quebec-Labrador iron ore mines from 17 million tonnes of concentrates to 25 million tonnes by 2011.

Ferrexpo production in May 2008 up by 0.6% MoM

June 12th (Steel Guru) – Ferrexpo has announced its production result for May 2008 with iron ore production of 2,418,000 tonnes up by 0.6% MoM, while concentrate production of 918,000 tonnes down by 0.7% MoM.

The production result for the month of May 2008 is given under

Production	May’08	Apr’08	Change	May’07	Change
Iron Ore	2,418	2,403	0.6%	2,422	-0.1%
Concentrate	918	924	-0.7%	879	4.4%
Pellets from produced raw materials	761	761	0%	736	3.4%
62% Fe	440	415	6.1%	410	7.4%
65% Fe	320	345	-7.3%	325	-1.7%
Pellets Total	776	778	-0.3%	756	2.6%
62% Fe	455	433	5.2%	430	5.9%
65% Fe	320	345	-7.3%	325	-1.7%

In ‘000 tonnes

Ferrexpo is a Swiss headquartered resources company with assets in Ukraine, principally involved in the production and export of iron ore pellets, used in producing steel. Current output is over 9 million tonnes, approximately 85% of which is exported to steelmakers around the world. The Group is currently undertaking a significant growth program and listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in June 2007 under the ticker FXPO.

Chonggang mining output to exceed 5 million tonnes

June 10th (Steel Guru) – According to Mr Liu Jiacai GM of Chonggang, it is making efforts to achieve 5 million tonnes of self mining to shake off the import.

Mr Liu said that they have signed agreement with Shaanxi Ankang Iron Ore and will supply 1.5 million tonnes to 2 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate to Chonggang.

Besides the cooperation with Ankang, Chonggang also developed Chongqing Qijiang Iron Ore and Banan Jielong Iron ore this year, and it will also cooperate with Sichuan Xichang Taihe Iron Ore.

Ukraine iron ore output up by 8% YoY in 5 months 2008

June 4th (Steel Guru) – Interfax quoted the Industrial Policy Ministry as reporting that Ukraine’s iron ore concentrate production grew 8% to 26.823 million tonnes and prepared iron ore rose 1% to 30.55 million tonnes including pellets up by 2% to 9.432 million tonnes and sinter ore up by 1% to 21.118 million tonnes. Crude iron ore production rose 6% to 33.694 million tonnes.

Poltava Mining

	Jan-May’08	Change
Iron ore pellets	3,823,000	-2.2%
Iron ore concentrate	4,538,000	2.5%

(In tonnes)

Suha Balka

	Jan-May’08	Change
Iron ore	1,295,000	0.9%

(In tonnes)

Zaporizhiya Mining

	Jan-May’08	Change
Commercial iron ore	1,859,000	0.7%

(In tonnes)