Chinese-owned foreign iron ore mines to supply 110 million mt to China in 2011

Wu Rongqing, chief engineer at the industry development department of the China Mining Association (CMA), stated on Wednesday, March 23, that overseas iron ore mines owned by Chinese enterprises are expected to supply 110 million mt of iron ore to China in 2011, up 22 percent compared with the supply volume of 90 million mt in 2010.
 
In addition, Mr. Wu said that, in the context of high international iron ore prices, China will be able to improve its domestic production volume of iron ore. Domestic output of iron ore is expected to reach 1.5 billion annually by 2015, he said. Northeastern China, Hebei Province and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province will be the main areas driving the growth of domestic iron ore output in the future. Meanwhile, he predicted that the current tight iron ore supply situation in China will be changed to a situation of sufficient supplies by 2013 or 2014.