Baosteel Group has set up an iron ore joint venture in Western Australia with Hamersley Iron, a unit of Rio Tinto. Hamersley will hold a 54 per cent stake in the 20-year joint venture, which will supply Baosteel with an average 10m tonnes of ore annually.
The Chinese company has been importing nearly all its iron ore needs since 1999, with about a third coming from Australia. It has a similar deal with CVRD of Brazil, the world’s largest iron ore producer.