According to an agreement signed on October 14, Gansu Province-based Chinese steel producer Jiuquan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd (Jiuquan Steel) has acquired a 45 percent stake in Xinzhou Mining Co., Ltd (Xinzhou Mining), a tungsten ore miner based in the same province, while Gansu Non-Ferrous Metal Geological Exploration Bureau and Gansu Jianxin Industry Group (Jianxin Industry) now hold 15 percent and 40 percent stakes respectively in Xinzhou Mining.
Xinzhou Mining, established in 2005, has an annual production capacity of 600,000 mt of tungsten ore. Jiuquan Steel general manager Wei Zhibin stated that work on the development of tungsten ore production at Xinzhou Mining would be stepped up.