Hubei Province-based Chinese steelmaker Wuhan Iron and Steel Company (
WISCO) has recently signed an
iron ore supply contract with Australian iron miner
BHP Billiton.
According to the contract,
WISCO will purchase 3.5 million mt of
iron ore from
BHP Billiton in 2011. The ore will be supplied from the Newman
mining area in Western
Australia.
WISCO has been importing
iron ore from
Australia since the 1980s. In November 2002,
WISCO first inked a memorandum of understanding with
BHP Billiton for
iron ore supplies. From October 1, 2005 up to the present,
BHP has supplied an aggregate 17 million mt of high quality
iron ore to
WISCO.