Robe River participants reach rail agreement with Rio Tinto

Mitsui & Co.， Ltd.
Nippon Steel Corporation
Sumitomo Metal Industries， Ltd.

The Japanese and Australian participants of Robe River Iron Associates (RRIA， ”Robe River J/V”) have reached agreement for the resumption of suspended construction works on the West Angelas railway in Western Australia. Robe River J/V is a joint venture for iron ore mining in Western Australia formed by Mitsui Iron Ore Development Pty Ltd (Mitsui*s subsidiary)， Sumitomo Metal Australia Pty Ltd (Sumitomo*s subsidiary) and Nippon Steel Australia Pty Ltd (Nippon Steel*s subsidiary) as the Japanese Participants and North Mining Limited (Rio Tinto*s subsidiary)， as the Australian participant.

On 14 December 2000， the Japanese Participants lodged legal proceedings against Rio Tinto and associated companies for the resumption of suspended railway construction works for the West Angelas project being developed by RRIA.

○The agreement warrants the construction of West Angelas railway in two stages.

In the first phase， a spur line starting from the West Angelas mine to the Hamersley railway is to be constructed and a partial track extension from 70km point of the existing Robe River railway towards the West Angelas mine will be made . In the meantime， West Angelas iron ore will be transported by way of the requisite part of Hamersley railway.

In the second phase， once Robe River J/V rails over 15 million tonnes per annum， the Japanese participants have the right to proceed with the construction of remaining part of the railway which runs from the mine to the port.

○The agreement calls for the establishment of a new company， Pilbara Rail Company， equally owned by RRIA and Rio Tinto， which will operate， but not own the rail assets which are to be owned separately by each party.

Robe River J/V in the above arrangements agreed plans to commence shipment of West Angelas ore in the early part of second half FY2002.

The agreement will take effect when the necessary governmental approvals are obtained， and the Japanese Participants will thereafter withdraw their legal proceedings against Rio Tinto and associated companies.

In the agreement， the Japanese Participants and Rio Tinto acknowledge that Robe River joint venture will continue as an independent producer of iron ore.
Robe River Iron Associates:
(1) Indirect Ownership: North - 53%， Mitsui - 33%， Nippon Steel - 10.5%， Sumitomo - 3.5%
(2) Operation: Production of Robe River iron ore and West Angelas iron ore
(3) First Shipment: 1972
(4) Production Scale: Currently - 30 mtpa / Future plan - 50 mtpa



West Angelas Development Plan:
(1) Location: Pilbara region， northwest of Western Australia， which is one of the largest iron ore producing areas in the world.
(2) Identified Reserves: Initial Mining Area - 440 million tons
Overall Region - 1 billion tons
(3) The Robe River Joint Venture participants have unanimously agreed to the development project which includes the construction of West Angelas railway， and commenced works upon obtaining State approval in March 2000.


For further information contact:
Mitsui & Co.， Ltd.　　　　　　　　　　Masaru Nishimura　　　+81-3-3285-7564
Nippon Steel Corporation　　　　　Takashi Kanke　　　　　+81-3-3275-5021
Sumitomo Metal Industries， Ltd.　Toshifumi Matsui　　　+81-3-4416-6115