To begin with the iron ore is intelligent
To begin with the iron ore is intelligent and will be very advantageous for the shareholders and all the projects to come
China's Hanlong Hunts for acquisitions
Updated: 2011-01-20 15:34
China's Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd is aggressively hunting for acquisitions in Australia under plans to become a major iron ore producer.
Hanlong already has a 56.8 per cent stake in Perth-based Moly Mines Ltd.
Moly Mines shares plunged on Tuesday after it said documentation and approvals for a $US463 million finance facility for its Spinifex Ridge molybdenum and copper project in Western Australia would not be ready for drawdown by January 31 as planned.
Hanlong, which is facilitating the loan, on Wednesday said the delay come about because of the need for regulatory approvals in Australia and China, and it remained committed to advancing the project while seeking other investment opportunities in Australia.
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"We're looking for investment opportunities in iron ore and uranium," Hanlong spokesman Calvin Zhu told AAP.
"But good targets are not that easy to find.
"It will take some time."
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Mr Zhu said Hanlong would consider both early stage projects and developing assets.
"It is more of a value proposition for us - whatever works financially," he said.
"When we are looking at large scale projects, we would have to think about things such as infrastructure development together with mine development.
"They go hand in hand in Australia."
Hanlong and some Moly Mines staffers last year said they planned to become the "fourth force in iron ore", but the rhetoric has since toned down.
"That was just a comment we made over dinner and it got picked up somehow," Mr Zhu said.
"Yes, it's true that we do have aspirations to become an iron ore producer of a large scale, but ... we don't like to be too loud in our message."
While the molybdenum and copper side of the Spinifex Ridge project has been delayed, the operation also contains iron ore and a maiden shipment of the steel making commodity was recently shipped to Chinese customers.
Moly Mines in 2009 decided to initially mine iron ore at the project after a sharp fall in the molybdenum price.
But Hanlong says the economics for the molybdenum and copper project are better now than when it originally invested in Moly Mines two years ago.
"Molybdenum prices then were US$12/lb and they are now US$17/lb," Hanlong said on Wednesday in a statement.
Hanlong is part of the Hanlong Group, a private firm with interests in China in mining, infrastructure, solar technology, property and pharmaceuticals.
https://www.chinamining.org/Investment/2011-01-20/1295509014d42788.html