Chinalco to buy 45 mln T of Mongolian coking coal

Fri Oct 21, 2011

SHANGHAI Oct 21 (Reuters) - Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chinalco) , the country's top aluminium producer, will buy 15 million tonnes of coking coal per year from Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi mine over the next three years, it said in a statement seen on Friday.

Chinalco said it had signed the contract with state-owned Mongolian miner Erdenes MGL in July and the first delivery of coal to China was made this week.

Erdenes said in July that Chinalco would resell 30 percent of the coking coal to Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp and Mitsui & Co Ltd , and state-owned Korea Resources Corp .

The government has split the massive Tavan Tolgoi coalfield into two sections for development. The east Tsankhi area is owned by Erdenes TT, which is planning an initial public offering worth an estimated $10 billion, while the west Tsankhi block is being auctioned to miners via an international tender.

(sourced Reuters)

Rio Spends $700 Million at Simandou Iron Ore Project

Mar 21, 2011 10:26 AM GMT+0530
By Elisabeth Behrmann

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-largest mining company, said it has spent $700 million to date at the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

“Our current plans for the mine, railway and port calls for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs during the construction phase and more than 4,000 full-time jobs once operational,” Tom Albanese, chief executive of the London-based company, also said today in e-mailed comments.

Rio is studying spending at least $6 billion in Guinea, where new President Alpha Conde has ordered a drafting policy giving the country at least a one-third stake in mining projects. The company said in July it had invested $650 million at Simandou and planned to begin mining within five years.

Rio is “very pleased” with the contribution that Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. has made to the project, Albanese said. Rio has agreed to sell Chinalco, as the state-owned company is known, a 44.65 percent stake in Simandou. (sourced:bloomberg)