Why Mexican Drug-Traffickers Smuggle Iron Ore to China
The Economist explains why smuggling iron ore to China has become a popular activity for Mexican...
Mar 11, 2014
The Economist explains why smuggling iron ore to China has become a popular activity for Mexican...
Aug 11, 2013
Quartz's Gwynn Guilford reports that China's year-on-year imports surged to 10.9% in July at $168 billion and all because of iron ore imports, speculated to serve as collateral for bank loans: But wait—what exactly was...
Mar 20, 2012
For several years, China has had the world’s largest demand for iron ore, but now BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, has reported that China’s demand for iron seems to be waning. China overtook Japan in demand for...
Dec 3, 2011
Since overtaking Japan in 2009, China has been Australia’s largest export market, outweighing South Korea, India, the US and UK (in third through sixth places) combined. While growing reliance on this trade is a source of...
Sep 3, 2011
The Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore reports from Shanxi on the voracious coal mining which, according to local government, has left more than 8,000 square miles of the surface dangerously vulnerable to subsidence and sinkholes....
May 5, 2011
A looming budget announcement in Australia highlights Canberra’s dependence on raw material exports to China for revenue, according to Reuters: Australia’s minority government will hand down its first budget next...
Apr 2, 2010
In the wake of the sentencing of Rio Tinto executives in China, Philip Bowring looks at the bigger picture of the iron ore business in the country: Whatever the full truth of the charges against them (Hu pleaded guilty to a...
Jul 8, 2009
Bloomberg reports: Rio Tinto Group, deadlocked in talks on iron ore prices with Chinese steel mills, said four of its employees have been detained for three days in Shanghai. Rio hasn’t had contact with the workers from the...
Nov 12, 2008
China’s economic woes are slowing demand for natural resources, and mining giants, like BHP Billiton, are slowing production as a result. From the Sydney Morning Herald: “There will be less ships than before,”...
Sep 10, 2008
The death toll from the landslide in Linfen, which was caused by a pile of illegally-maintained iron ore waste, is now 128 and expected to rise. From AP: Two thousand rescuers shoveled and hammered through the debris Wednesday...
Jul 13, 2008
The Chinese Government-backed firm Sinosteel has won control of West Australian iron ore miner, Midwest. From ABC News, Australia. The steelmaker has told the Australian Stock Exchange it now owns 50.97 per cent of Midwest...
Jan 31, 2008
As China continues to procure iron ore from around the world, news from Australia that Beijing-based Shougang Corp has acquired a 20 percent stake in Australia’s leading iron ore producer, Mount Gibson Iron. From the...
Nov 21, 2007
Forbes writes about the growing competition between China and Japan over iron ore: Both nations have an acute need for the product. Indeed, it is China’s enormous appetite for iron ore (about 500 million tons a year or more) that has been the major factor behind the recent enormous price increases and profits in the […]
Jun 21, 2006
From the AP: China’s steel mills have agreed to a 19 percent price increase for iron ore following extended negotiations with the world’s three biggest mining companies, the government said Wednesday. China’s biggest steelmaker, Baosteel Group , agreed Tuesday with Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd., the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing an unnamed source at […]
Jun 12, 2006
From The Age: Global iron ore heavyweights have increased pressure on China to fall into line with the rest of the steel-making world and accept a 19 per cent increase in contract prices for shipments of the key material in 2006-07. Pilbara producer Rio Tinto turned up the heat yesterday, saying that global demand for […]
Apr 10, 2006
From Financial Times (link): From 2000 to 2005, it accounted for more than 90 per cent of growth in seaborne iron ore trade, according to Macquarie Research. Between 1994 and 2003, China was responsible for 54 per cent of growth in global copper consumption. While growth in demand for such commodities is set to slow, […]