Iron Sharpens Iron
Image: The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office. BY REUBEN ADAMS MINERS are confident that China’s unprecedented $US1.3 trillion infrastructure investment program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is the vehicle to drive massive medium to long term demand for iron ore. Short term forecasts, however, paint a less-than-rosy picture. “Among the range of possibilities we consider, our base case remains that Chinese steel production is yet to peak,” BHP Market Analysis and Economics VP Dr Huw McKay wrote in September. “The most likely timing of the peak is the middle of next decade.” Australia’s iron ore majors have a consensus positive outlook – and a key driver is the Belt and Road Initative (BRI), a China-led strategy to increase…