V. 
Japanese Steel Mills 
To Buy Additional Ore 
Of Australian Project 
Agreement Raises Total Orders 
I To $1.2 Billion of Iron Ore 
From Still-Unfinished Facility 
B^J a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter 
;NEW YORK— Japanese steel mills have 
agreed to purchase an additional 37.5 million 
lo ;g tons of high-grade iron ore— valued at 
aL.iut $300 million— from the five companies 
participating in the Mt. Newman project in 
wesftern Australia. 
Yhe agreement raised the total of such Jap- 
anc 'e orders to 146 million long tons, with a to- 
tal ’.--ilue of about $1.2 billion. In addition to ore 
sales to Japan, the five companies have sold 70 
millio.j long tons of ore from Mt. Newman to 
Broken Hill Proprietary Co., one of the five 
partm rs in the enterprise and Australia’s larg- 
est ini'ustrial concern. 
Thi ; brings to 216 million long tons the 
amount of Mt. Newman iron ore sold in ad- 
vance of project completion. A long ton is the 
equivalent of 2,240 pounds. 
Industry sources said this is the biggest 
pileup of orders for any kind of mine anyplace 
in the world prior to the beginning of opera- 
tions, and tliat most probably it’s the biggest 
backlog of orders in the world even for a mine 
already in operation. 
Partners in the Mt. Newman project are 
Amax Iron Ore Corp., a subsidiary of Ameri- 
^ Climax Inc., which holds a 25% in- 
terest; Pilbara Iron Ltd., a subsidiary of the 
Australian concern Colonial Sugar Refining 
Co., which has a 30% interest; Dampier Mining 
Co., a subsidiary of Broken Hill Proprietary, 
which also has a 30% interest; Seltrust Iron 
Ore Ltd., a subsidiary of the British concern 
Selection Trust Ltd., which has a 5% interest; 
and Mitsui-C. Itoh Iron Pty. Ltd., which is 70% 
owned by Mitsui & Co. and 30% by C. Itoh & 
Co. Mitsui-C. Itoh’s interest in the Mt. Newman 
project is 10%. 
According to Amax Mineral Sales Corp., an 
American Metal Climax subsidiary responsible 
for developing markets for the Mt. Newman 
ore outside Australia, the new agreement with 
the Japanese mills calls for delivery of the 37.5 
million long tons over a 10-year period begin' 
ning in 1971. 
^ - The sale is subject to export approval by the 
Australian government. 
American Metal Climax said Mt. Newman 
iron ore would be produced at a rate of about 
16 million long tons annually by 1975 to meet 
the Japanese and Australian contracts. 
a J j It would take a train 1,150 miles long— or 
/ more than the distance between New York and 
New Orleans — to handle this annual output in a 
single haul. 
Three years ago it was announced that an 
estimated $150 million would be invested in the 
open-pit mine, crushing and screening facili- 
ties, a 265-mile railroad from Mt. Newman in 
the Interior to Cooke Point at Port Hedland on 
the northeast coast of Australia, and the build- 
ing of a modern port and loading facilities. 
Yesterday’s American Metal Climax an- 
nouncement added that these facilities would 
require “considerable expansion’’ in order to 
meet the new ore commitments. The harbor at 
Port Hedland will be enlai^ed to accommodate 
ore carriers of 100,000 tons, initially the harbor 
had been planned for ships of up to 68,000 tons. 
Cost of the expansion wasn’t revealed. 
^ . Mt. Newman is believed to be one of the 
»• largest high-grade iron ore bodies in the world, 
, ' with an estimated average grade of ore of 64% 
iron. The first contracts, calling for delivery of 
100 million long tons of ore to Japan over a 15- 
year period beginning next year, were signed 
three years ago. And last July, Japanese steel- 
makers agreed to buy an additional 8.5 million 
long tons of ore. 
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