Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-based iron ore miner MMX Mineracao e Metalico SA announced Tuesday that it has hired two banks--Itau BBA and WestLB do Brasil--to raise $1.8 billion in funds from national and international banks for MMX's expansion projects at its iron ore mine in Southeast Brazil's Minas Gerais state. According to MMX, the two banks will structure the finance of the project, which aims to grow MMX's Serra Azul iron ore mine to a 24 million metric tons (mt) a year facility.
The $1.8 billion financing project is just one step in MMX's expansion plans, which include growing its total iron ore capacity nearly six-fold from 8 million mt currently to 46 million mt in mines in Brazil and Chile.