Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel Corporation (Nippon Steel) announced on August 5 that, through its Australian subsidiary Nippon Steel Australia Pty Ltd, it has acquired a 10 percent interest in the Foxleigh coal mine joint venture (JV) in Queensland, Australia, from Japanese trading house ITOCHU Corporation.
Foxleigh coal mine began operation in 2000, and currently produces about 2.5 million mt per annum of high quality metallurgical coal for PCI (pulverized coal injection). Following the acquisition, the mine is now shared by UK-based miner Anglo American (70 percent), South Korean steelmaker POSCO (20 percent) and Nippon Steel.