On April 16, Lei Pingxi, secretary general of the China Metallurgical Mining Enterprise Association, said that China is going to build two to three large iron ore mines of over 100 million mt capacity in the country's 12th five-year plan period (2011-15).
Mr. Lei Pingxi added that at the end of 2010 proven reserves of iron ore in China totaled 71.4 billion mt. He also pointed out that in 2010 China's overseas mine investments provided 60 million mt of iron ore supplies for China, with this figure expected to increase to 90 million mt in 2011.