Ansteel boosts iron ore self-sufficiency

With production of a depleting open-pit iron mine owned by Ansteel switching to the underground production mode, Ansteel will increase its iron ore autarky ratio from 50 percent to 80 percent. The group is investing 393 million yuan to turn the Yanqianshan Iron mine into an underground mine, which will help extend the mine's life expectancy by seven years and add 2.4 million tons of capacity per year. The project is expected to be completed next year.

Ansteel now runs two iron concentrates factories (Anshan Mining Company and Gongchangling Mining Company) with a combined proven resource of 9.3 billion tons, or a quarter of the country's total reserves, adequate enough to feed the mill for a century.