Construction on $1.06 Billion Mining Project Begins in Central China

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The cornerstone-laying ceremony for Phase I of the Yichang high phosphor iron ore mining project, invested by the Capital Iron and Steel Corporation (Capital Steel) (Beijing, China), was held at in Yichang City in central China’s Hubei province on September 15, 2007. Wu Yongwen, a member of Hubei’s standing committee; Capital Steel Chairman Zhu Jimin; Wang Qinghai, general manger of Capital Steel; and Yichang Mayor Guo Youming; among other leaders and representatives, attended the ceremony.

The project, located west of Hubei province, is rich in iron ore resources with total proven reserves of 2 billion metric tons, a total potential economic value of $100 billion. Yichang is a major city in west Hubei. The proven reserves of iron ore in Yichang is as high as 800 million metric tons, including Huoshaoping of Changyang County and Longjiaoba of Wufeng County. The two large mines boast reserves of more than 100 million metric tons each. However, as the iron ore in west Hubei is of high phosphor content, iron mines in west Hubei was not excavated due to technical reason in the past 40 years. Capital Steel achieved great success on dephosphorization technology for high phosphor iron ore through years of researches and experiments, and became the first company in mastering this technology in China.

On June 26, 2006, Capital Steel signed the cooperative agreement with Yichang City for the development of the iron ore project. According to the agreement, Capital Steel will invest more than $1.06 billion in Yichang to mine high phosphor iron ore, as well as associated resources, including the construction of mining and deep processing plants and associated port and goods yard. The mining plant in Phase I occupies about 33.3 ha. in Huoshaoping with an annual production capacity of 600,000 metric tons and is expected to go into operation by the end of June 2008. The annual production capacity of Phase II will be 1.5 million metric tons, and the total planned annual production capacity will be 10 million metric tons, with annual sales income over $1.33 billion upon completion.

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