China Minmetals Considers Mauritania Iron Ore Project

Minmetals Carrying Out Due Diligence

China’s largest minerals and metals trader, China Minmetals Corporation, is considering iron ore mining projects in Mauritania to diversify its raw material sources, a report in the China Daily newspaper said on Friday.

The paper reports that the company’s vice-president Xu Siwei, said on Thursday that it has started due diligence on iron ore projects in the West African country and that it expects to sign an agreement soon.

"Other international miners have also expressed interest in the Mauritania mines, but we are confident of succeeding," said Mr Xu.

Mauritania already has one large iron ore operation in SNIM, which exports much of its output to Europe, in particular to France.

Minmetals imported 4 million tons iron ore from Mauritania in 2009 and Mr Xu said that the figure would be higher this year. Mauritania is the ninth largest iron ore supplier to China and Minmetals has been importing Mauritanian iron ore through its branch office in Germany.

The country has been producing iron ore since the early nineteen-fifties. Iron ore mines are situated at at Idjill Kédia, M’haoudat and Guelbs.

China is the latest overseas country to consider mining projects in the country.

Minmetals acquired Australian zinc miner Oz Minerals for $1.4 billion in June 2009 and last year also gained control of Hong Kong-listed Hunan Nonferrous Metals Co Ltd.

Chinese miners will consider more investment opportunities in the higher-risk investment destinations of Africa, Central Asia and Russia as it is difficult to acquire high-yielding mines in low-risk countries like Australia and Canada this year, the newspaper said.

Mauritania To Increase Iron Ore Output

Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (SNIM), based in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, has announced plans to set up a 4 million-tons-per-year concentrated iron ore plant in the African nation’s Al-Zouerate region.

According to Industrial Info Resources, Sugar Land, Texas, the plant is expected to be completed and ready for operation by 2011. The plant is part of an expansion project for SNIM, the national iron ore company of Mauritania, that includes a new seaport at Nouadhibou and an expansion of an existing mine.

The new port will replace an existing one and is scheduled to be operational from 2012. The port initially would be built with a handling capacity of about 170,000 tons, but it is expected to increase to more than 250,000 tons in the future, according to IIR.

In December of 2009, SNIM procured a $710 million loan from four institutions and four commercial banks to fund the expansion plan. The institutions include the African Development Bank, based in Côte d’Ivoire; the European Investment Bank, based in Luxembourg; the French Development Bank, based in Paris; and the Islamic Development Bank, based in Saudi Arabia.

The commercial banks are Societe Generale, based in Paris; KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, based in Frankfurt, Germany; BNP Paribas SA, also based in Paris; and BHF-Bank International SA, based in Luxembourg. Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. will reportedly play a large role in the engineering and construction aspects of the project.

Mauritania’s SNIM is the largest producer of iron ore in North Africa and the second largest in all of Africa, according to IIR. The company expects its iron ore production and sales to reach 11.4 million tons in 2010, an estimate that is about 10 percent higher than 2009’s production of 10.4 million tons. When the new plant is fully operational, the production capacity of the facility is expected to reach 16 million tons per year by 2013.

Source: Recycling Today

China Minmetals Plans Mauritania Iron Ore JV

A senior executive from China Minmetals Corp said on October 28, the company is seeking to purchase an iron ore project in Mauritania of West Africa.

China Minmetals Corp. is the largest metal trading company in China.

Ma Jun, director of General Office of Minmetals told reporters in a luncheon meeting, the Group has completed a preliminary study to the project.

Ma Jun didn't elaborate the project and didn't disclose the scale, either.

Ma Jun pointed out that even if the project resulted in losses, Minmetals Group must seize the opportunity for such a purchase.

Minmetals Group and Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere(SNIM) set an iron ore JV enterprise, which is set to produce 2.5mln tons of iron ore. SNIM is the world's seventh-largest iron ore supplier.

Since this year, SNIM became China's ninth-largest iron ore supplier and China imported 4.9mln tons of iron ore from SNIM in January to September, up 3 times compared with same period last year.

Source: MetalBiz