Japanese news agency the Nikkei business daily reported Tuesday that Japanese steelmakers JFE Steel Corp. and Itochu Corp. plan to buy Nippon Steel's and Sumitomo Metal Industries' stakes in Namisa, a Brazilian iron ore mine. The Namisa mine current produces 18 million tons of iron ore annually, which it plans to raise to 39 million tons by 2013.
The majority stakeholder of the mine is Brazilian flat-rolled steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), holding 60 percent, with the other 40 percent held by a number of Japanese steel mills, as well as South Korean steel giant POSCO.
Itochu will boost its stake to 22.45 percent, spending 40 billion yen (US$494.5 million); JFE Holdings plans to invest 14 billion yen (US$172.8 million) to raise its interest in the mine to 8.6 percent.
The Nikkei also said that Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals have chosen to sell their stake in Namisa.