On November 24, Xinhua Alliance Metallurgical Investment (Group) Co., Ltd and Yinma Mining Co., Ltd signed a contract with the government of Longhua County in Hebei Province, China, regarding a project for the construction of a new pig iron production base.
Under the contract, the two companies in question are to build a pig iron production base in the county. The project with a total investment of RMB 1.5 billion ($226 million) will be implemented in two stages and is planned to be completed by 2014. Once put into production, it will have an annual production capacity of 800,000 mt of pig iron, 200,000 mt of casting steel sections and 26,000 mt of vanadium slag. By 2014, it will be China's largest production base for pig iron and casting steel sections.
The project also includes the establishment of a comprehensive iron ore mining program in the county. The target of the program is to reach an annual production capacity of 3 million mt of ore concentrate in three years.
Xinhua Alliance Metallurgical Investment (Group), established in 1999, operates in the steelmaking, coal and mining industries. In 2009, the company produced 9.2 million mt of crude steel, 9 million mt of rolled steel products, 2.2 million mt of coking coal and 200,000 mt of carbinol. There are 13,000 employees in the company. By the end of 2009, the company's total assets were valued in excess of RMB 25 billion ($3.8 billion).