On December 12, the government of the northeastern Chinese province of Hebei announced the discovery of an iron ore deposit, the Macheng deposit, with proven reserves of 1.044 billion metric tons - the largest such single iron ore deposit found in China since the 1980s.
Located in Luannan, Tangshan city, the Macheng deposit, which will be developed by Hebei Steel Group, has estimated unproven reserves of 500 million metric tons, in addition to its proven reserves.
Moreover, the Macheng deposit is situated at depths ranging from 100 meters to 600 meters, and is comparatively easy to mine. The deposit is 6 km long and 41.43 meters to 108.95 meters thick on average.
According to Lei Pingxi of the China Metallurgical Mining Enterprise Association, China is not short of iron ore resources. Based on the rapid growths in both investment and development in domestic mines, China's iron ore output is expected to reach 1.1-1.2 billion metric tons by year 2015, Mr Lei said. Meanwhile, he added that Chinese enterprises are making efforts to invest in overseas mines. It is estimated that by 2015 70 percent of the raw material demand of China's steel industry will be satisfied by iron ore materials produced by domestic mines and by overseas mines held by Chinese enterprises.