ArcelorMittal to buy London Mining Brasil

BRUSSELS: ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steel producer, said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy iron ore miner London Mining Brasil for up to $810 million to help improve its self-sufficiency in raw materials.

ArcelorMittal said it was buying the company from Oslo- listed London Mining. ArcelorMittal aims to raise its iron ore self-sufficiency to 75 percent by 2012 from 45 percent currently and has recently raised its coal self-sufficiency to 20 percent from 15 percent after buying mines in Russia and the U.S this year.

London Mining Brasil has an estimated 1,059 million tonnes of measured, indicated and inferred iron ore resources, ArcelorMittal said, adding it was considering investing another $700 million to increase production. The group also announced it reached an agreement with Canada's Adriana Resources for the development of an iron ore port facility in the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

"ArcelorMittal intends to use its share of the port's capacity to export iron ore from the London Mining Brasil mine to its steel facilities in the Atlantic basin," it said. Since its creation in 2006, ArcelorMittal has aggressively pursued consolidation, with a flurry of investments and acquisitions in developing countries such as Senegal, India, Russia and China as well as in mature economies.