Fortescue remains in financing talks with China

Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group remains in financing talks with unspecified Chinese investors, seeking a credit line of US$6 billion for expansion, Bloomberg reported. Fortescue CEO Michael Forrest said in an interview that he wants to have the funding secured by September. The company is short on cash and lower iron ore prices have forced it to delay expansion plans. Fortesque recently agreed to sell most of its current entire iron ore production to the Baosteel Group and the China Iron and Steel Association at a 35% discount, deeper than the 33% discount offered by the Rio Tinto Group and 47% less than the current spot price for benchmark iron ore. Securing financing is a precondition of the discount agreement.