Hanlong closer to African iron ore mine

CHENGDU -- Hanlong, a private Chinese mining firm, on Tuesday said its lower offer in the acquisition of Australia's Sundance Resources has been accepted, bringing the company a step closer to developing a major iron ore mine in Western Africa.

Hanlong said its offer of A$0.45 per share of Sundance, down from its initial offer of A$0.57, to buy all the remaining shares of the Australian firm has been accepted. Hanlong has been Sundance's largest stakeholder since March 2011, controlling 18.6 percent of its shares before the takeover.

The new offer will save Hanlong 2 billion yuan ($315 million) in the deal that had originally been valued at A$1.7 billion ($1.765 billion), Hanlong officials said. The acquisition is expected to be completed by mid-December.

Sundance is developing the Mbalam Iron Ore Mine in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. The mine's output is expected to initially reach 35 million tons a year and eventually grow to 50 million tons a year, Hanlong officials said.

China relies on imports to meet about 60 percent of its demand for iron ore -- a key ingredient in steel production. The country's annual iron ore demand will reach 1.13 billion tons by the end of 2015, according to an interpretation on the 12th Five-Year plan for the iron and steel industry (2011-2015), published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology late last year.

The privately-held Hanlong Group owns or has stakes in more than 30 firms with combined assets totalling 36 billion yuan. The group says its annual revenue is about 1.6 billion yuan.