China’s Sinosteel Corp. has signed a $690 million contract to
exploit an iron ore mine in southern Cameroon amid a push to cut Chinese
reliance on Australian and Brazilian ore.
Sinosteel will produce 10 million tons of ore annually
containing 33% iron from the Lobe mine, Zheng Zhengao, who heads the
Cameroonian subsidiary told reporters in the capital, Yaounde. It will then
enrich the output to produce 4 million tons of high-grade ore with more than
60% iron content, he said.
The Chinese company signed a 50-year contract with the central
African government to exploit the Lobe deposit, which contains an estimated
632.8 million tons of iron ore.
The signing comes nearly a decade after Sinosteel first
expressed interest in the mine.
Mining.com