外媒：安赛乐米塔尔投资40亿美元于矿山项目

概述：世界最大钢厂安赛乐米塔尔投资40亿美元于矿山项目，预计到2015年铁矿石产量达1亿吨。安赛乐米塔尔将扩展其在西非的铁矿石项目，包括发展煤炭资源。自今年由于中国铁矿的需求量剧增而致使铁矿石价格的上涨，安赛乐米塔尔将选择自给自足的方法避免价格风险。

ArcelorMittal to Spend $4 Billion on Iron Ore Mines

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, plans to spend $4 billion to increase iron-ore production to 100 million metric tons by 2015 as the company seeks to boost its self-sufficiency in raw materials.

ArcelorMittal will expand projects and build mines in West Africa, the Luxembourg-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. It also plans to develop coal assets through joint ventures and is “reviewing opportunities in new frontiers.”

The steelmaker is seeking to boost its self-sufficiency in raw materials after prices for iron ore and coking coal surged this year on demand from China, the world’s largest producer of the metal. BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale SA and Rio Tinto Group, the three biggest exporters, have also been switching to quarterly supply contracts instead of fixed-price, annual accords.

Prices for iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, almost doubled in the April quarter and gained more than 20 percent in the June-to-September period. ArcelorMittal, which is now able to produce about 60 million tons of ore, has added mining assets in Brazil, Russia and Liberia since Mittal Steel Co. bought Arcelor SA in 2006 in the steel industry’s biggest takeover.

ArcelorMittal said in an investor presentation on its website that it expects ore prices to fall back as supply rises. A drop in price swings would also “smooth” margins, it said. Steelmakers faced volatile prices this year as they bought iron ore and coal for immediate delivery or in quarterly supply accords after the end of the 40-year-old annual pricing system.

Cost Cuts

ArcelorMittal plans a further $2 billion in cost cuts through so-called “management gains” by 2012, it said. The company said in July it had achieved $3 billion in savings by lowering expenses following the global economic crisis.

The company reined in expansion plans in India and is now targeting the development of “smaller modular sites” capable of producing between 1.5 million and 3 million tons of steel a year, it said. ArcelorMittal’s original plans to build two $10 billion steel plants in Orissa state and neighboring Jharkhand have been thwarted because of delays in buying up land.

The steelmaker, which plans its first output in the country by 2013, forecast Indian steel demand will triple by 2020.

(来源：Bloomberg)