Leading steelmaker to buy first iron ore in Australia

The mine, called Roper Valley, has a mining capacity of four million tonnes per year, the Hoa Phat Group said in a statement, without revealing the value of the deal.

This is Hoa Phat’s first major investment in Australia, which holds the world’s largest supply of iron ore, and the group is considering buying more projects there to have a total annual capacity of 10 million tonnes a year, or half of the group’s demand.

Hoa Phat is also considering buying coking coal mines in Australia. The import of this material from Australia accounts for 30 percent of its steel price.

The group targets a 33 percent growth in revenues and post-tax profits this year to VND120 trillion ($5.21 billion) and VND18 trillion, respectively.