Mitsui to invest another $340 million in iron ore JVs with BHP Billiton

Japan's largest global trading house Mitsui & Co. has announced that it has approved an additional investment of $340 million for further growth of its Western Australia iron ore business, which is handled jointly with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton and Japanese trading house Itochu Corporation.
 
Accordingly, the overall capital investment is expected to total $7.4 billion, with Mitsui's share amounting to approximately $340 million, and BHP's share amounting to $6.6 billion. In December 2010, Mitsui approved pre-sanction funding equivalent to approximately $30 million. Including this amount, the total amount of Mitsui's portion is expected to be around $370 million.
 
The investments will be primarily directed towards the increase of installed capacity to in excess of 220 million mt of iron ore per annum.
 
Mitsui, together with BHP Billiton and Itochu, owns the three iron ore joint ventures of Mt. Newman, Yandi and Mt. Goldsworthy in Western Australia (BHP Billiton holds an 85 percent share, Itochu eight percent and Mitsui seven percent). Approximately 138 million mt of ore were shipped from the JVs in question in 2010, primarily to Asian countries.
 
"Mitsui will seek to increase the supply of iron ore through its Western Australia iron ore operations, in response to the expected increase in worldwide demand, particularly among emerging countries over the medium and long terms," reads the company's statement.