Recently, Shandong Iron & Steel Group has inked a $1.5 billion agreement with African Minerals on a new iron ore program located in Sierra Leone, whose iron ore reserve is estimated to stand at 12.8 billion t. As a consequence, Shandong Iron & Steel Group will hold approximately 25% of the overall shares in the program. Besides, it also has preferential right to purchase 25% of the program's iron ore production in future. Meanwhile, African Minerals also has promised to provide around 10 million t of the iron ore annually to Shandong Iron & Steel Group with a 15% price discount.
As well as known to all, the three iron ore goliaths have already monopolized the global market, which has escalated the production cost rapidly. Thereby, China's steelmakers have accelerated their steps to scramble for the global iron ore resources since last year.