Hong Kong-based CITIC Pacific has signed an agreement with Australian Mineralogy Pty Ltd's subsidiary Korean Steel to take over the company's rights to develop a one billion mt magnetite iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
For the takeover, CITIC Pacific will pay over $200 million and continuing royalty payments to Mineralogy.
Under the deal, CITIC will also develop a port at Cape Preston.
This is CITIC's second deal with Mineralogy. In March 2006, the company had purchased the right to mine up to six billion mt of magnetite iron ore at Mineralogy's Balmoral deposit, also in Western Australia.