Rinehart’s Hancock weighs $3.3 billion iron ore mine project
Hancock acquired a 51% interest in the Mt Bevan project from Legacy Iron Ore Ltd. and Hawthorn Resources.
BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers said during the company’s annual general meeting yesterday that the record high iron prices witnessed over the past decade will not be repeated.
Kloppers said that over the past ten years there has been a shortfall of low-cost iron ore supply and metallurgical coal, which aided in pushing commodity prices to unsustainable levels.
“We are now witnessing a rebalancing of demand and low-cost supply, and a progressive recalibration of prices towards more sustainable levels,” Kloppers said.
Kloppers noted that the high prices were driven by constant commodities demand from China, which came as no surprise.
“This industry’s ability to meet incremental demand with low-cost supply has improved and, in this regard, the opportunities that lie ahead will be volumetric as opposed to price-based,” Kloppers said.
For the short term, BHP predicts continued volatility in financial markets due to ongoing fears about the stability of the eurozone and growth forecasts for China.
Source (English): Platts via BrightWire News.
