Liaoning-based Chinese steelmaker Anshan Iron and Steel Group (Ansteel) has announced that its iron ore mine renovation and expansion project has been approved by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Total investment in the project in question is RMB 18.616 billion ($3 billion).
The project covers seven currently existing iron ore mines, three new iron ore mines, and also the renovation of a tailings mine.
Ansteel stated that the newly-added annual raw iron ore output of the overall project will reach 23.15 million mt. Meanwhile, the newly-added iron ore concentrate production will total 7.5 million mt per year. With this project, Ansteel will become over 75 percent self-sufficient in terms of iron ore supplies.
In 2011, Ansteel produced 47.7 million mt of raw iron ore, 16 million mt of iron ore concentrate and 6.78 million mt of iron ore pellets.