Rio Tinto and Sinosteel extend joint venture

BEIJING - Sinosteel Corporation and the global miner Rio Tinto Group on Friday agreed to extend their Channar mining joint venture in Western Australia to produce a further 50 million tons of iron ore from 2012 to 2017.

The joint project, in which Sinosteel owns a 40 percent stake and Rio Tinto the remainder, currently produces 10 million tons of iron ore a year. It is expected to achieve an initial output target of 200 million tons by the second quarter of 2012. Initiated in 1987, the project has supplied an accumulative 183 million tons of iron ore to China, Sinosteel said.

"The extension of the Channar joint venture shows that the commercial relationship formed between China and Australia two decades ago has evolved into a mutually beneficial partnership," said Duncan H Calder, partner in charge of China Business Practice, KPMG Australia, an adviser to Sinosteel on the deal.