Australia-based miner Rio Tinto has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop its first bonded area operations to blend iron ore at Dalian port in China, as it widens offerings for Asian customers, according to Reuters.
With the MoU, the company will use the port as a transshipment hub and it will help the company to better serve steel mills in north China.
According to the company, the first batch of iron ore fines were blended from high-grade IOC concentrate from Canada and Rio Tinto’s SP10 from Western Australia.
“The cooperation can effectively reduce the costs at both ends of the supply chain and provide more value-added services,” Zhang Yi, president of Dalian Port’s parent company Liaoning Port Group, said.
Dalian port has blended over 46 million mt of iron ore within its bonded area since 2016 when it first started the operation, as SteelOrbis understands.
