China has been a big steel producer all over the world. In the 1950s, we had a slogan called catching up with the Premier League. The war of anti us and aid to Korea has made us realize that there is still a very big gap between us and Western countries in terms of capacity. So our goal is to overtake the UK in 15 years and 50 years to overtake the United States. Although from that point of view, that goal was a little idealistic. But whoever thinks of the wind and water turns around, our economic development turns out to be the most normal person in the world. Britain was soon weakened by the pressure of the United States. The United States itself has killed itself. It's not 50 years since we found that imperialism was really paper tiger. In 2008, China's steel output was 50.91 million tons, which was 5.5 times that of the United States. We didn't expect that when the first slogan came true, it was actually realized. Of course, China also faces a problem, that is, steel production capacity is very strong, but ore mainly depends on the import problem.
First, we should make clear that there is no iron ore in our country, such as the famous Anshan Steel Company or the enterprise built in the resource area. Our import of iron ore is mainly restricted by the economy. Iron ore is mainly divided into several types, namely rich ore, low quality ore, poor ore and super poor ore. Iron ore in China is mainly concentrated in the west, mostly poor, with an average grade of 35%. Even rich iron ore is difficult to develop because of cost problems. And the west is very rare. We have a good infrastructure, and it will cost us a lot to pull out of it to the East steel plant. Although we have more than four iron ores in the world, we still have to choose to import iron ore from other countries.
In these years, human beings can not leave industry, so the raw material production area has gradually formed several monopoly organizations. Oil has OPEC, iron ore here is mainly monopolized by four enterprises. The freshwater Valley in Brazil, Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortis hills in Australia. Iron ore in these two countries is not only good in quality, but also convenient for mining. Therefore, China also imports iron ore mainly from these two countries. These four companies look like four, but they are actually similar to one. Brazil and Australia are largely mutual shareholdings, mainly to control the world's iron ore industry and pricing rights.
Steel is the backbone of modern industry, and our steel production capacity accounts for 53% of the world. That is, other countries can't fight us together. In recent years, our country has vigorously carried out infrastructure construction, which has a very large consumption of steel. Bridges, houses, railways, trains all need steel. And iron has always been a symbol of strength. The evolution of human world can also be said to be the smelting history of iron. We were able to hang nomadic people in ancient times, because our iron smelting industry is higher than nomadic people. In modern times, we realized the importance of steel. In Opium War, Sino Japanese War, anti Japanese War and anti American aid to Korea, we can not make large quantities of steel, even the most basic element of industry, let alone military equipment. During World War II, the Soviet Union was able to turn against the wind, and of course, it could not be separated from its strong steel manufacturing capacity.
Although we are strong in steelmaking, we are short of resources. The natural amount of iron and steel production will be imported from the natural amount of iron ore. We have used 75% of the world's annual output of iron ore, and in the year alone, our iron ore import volume reached 1.069 billion tons. Our iron ore import volume has been maintained at over 80% all year round. Of these, 80 percent are from Australia, and the rest 20 percent are from Brazil. We will cost $800billion for iron ore alone. It is China, the gold master, and Australia is also a man with a straight back. Australia has set a small target, namely, the export revenue of iron ore reaches 123billion US dollars, equivalent to 798.3 billion yuan. However, this small goal may be difficult to achieve. Because we pursue diversified iron ore import, we are gradually looking for new sellers.
Sierra Leone's new tangkrili iron mine is now a very good option for China. Sierra Leone's first iron ore ship was successfully launched from Pepel to China on January 29. The iron ore is the largest monomer magnetite in the world at present. The iron mine is invested and operated by China Qinghua company, and has been restored to operation in September 2020. The mine has a resource of 13.7 billion tons. Tangkrili mine is mainly processed into Sierra Leone powder, and its iron content can reach 60%, but one problem is that silicon content is relatively high. Exports have been to China since 2010, but have been closed due to the Ebola virus outbreak and poor operation of the mine. After several years of dormancy, production has recently resumed.
In addition to the tangkrili iron ore, there is a larger iron mine, Simandou iron ore in Guinea. Simandou iron ore has a higher grade, which can reach 66 to 70%. At present, the total amount of resources in this mine is estimated to reach 10 billion tons. Currently, there are three companies responsible for the development of the iron ore, namely Rio Tinto in Australia, Chinalco and the government of Guinea. Rio Tinto accounted for 45% of the shares and Chinalco was 40%, while the rest was owned by the government of Guinea. Bundling benefits is the best way. Not only Guinea iron ore, China is also in the exploration and research mining industry in South Africa, Mauritania, Cameroon, Madagascar and other countries. These countries have a wealth of iron ore production. One of the reasons why they didn't become iron ore giants like Australia is that they don't have good infrastructure. But infrastructure is not a problem in front of China. When our iron ore supply is diversified like oil supply, it is also time for us to bid farewell to Australia.
Author / lonely cold light