Nippon Steel and Rio Tinto reach agreement on acquisition of interest in Hail Creek Joint Venture an

Earlier this year， Nippon Steel Corporation (President: MIMURA Akio) and Rio Tinto (Head Offices: London and Melbourne， Chief Executive: Leigh CLIFFORD) reached a basic agreement on creating a comprehensive alliance for the acquisition of interests in and joint development of Australian mines of iron ore and coking coal and conclusion of long-term contracts for such raw materials and other purposes. As part of the alliance， definitive agreements have been concluded for Nippon Steel’s acquisition of an 8% interest in the Hail Creek Joint Venture and long-term purchase (totaling approximately 30 million tons for 15 years) of coal produced from the mine.

Hail Creek， a metallurgical coal mine located in Queensland， Australia， commenced its operation in the latter half of 2003. Decision has now been made to increase the annual capacity of the mine from 5.5 million tons per annum to 8 million tons per annum. Nippon Steel supports such expansion through investment and through the long-term coal purchase mentioned above.

Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the interest and investment in the Hail Creek Joint Venture will be implemented through its wholly-owned subsidiary， Nippon Steel Australia Pty Ltd (Head Office: Sydney).


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