Vancouver, British Columbia-based Canadian iron ore exploration company Alderon Resources Corporation has announced that China's largest steelmaker Hebei Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (Hebei Steel) has contributed the remaining C$119.9 million of its initial investment in Alderon's Kami iron ore project.
This concludes Hebei Steel's initial strategic investment, first announced in April 2012, into both Alderon and its Kami project for an aggregate amount of C$182.2 million, in exchange for 19.9 percent of the outstanding common shares of Alderon and a 25 percent interest in the limited partnership that owns the Kami project.
According to Alderon's statement, as part of the strategic partnership transaction, Hebei Steel is obligated to purchase, upon the commencement of commercial production, 60 percent of the actual annual production from the Kami project up to a maximum of 4.8 million mt of the first 8 million mt of iron ore concentrate produced annually at the Kami project.
The Kami project has proven reserves of about 1 billion metric tons of iron ore, with an expected annual output of 8 million mt after the launch of production in 2015.