The iron ore price paid by China has fallen by almost a quarter from its September peak to $138 a tonne. But mining houses show little sign of slowing their capital expenditure. Anglo Americandevoted a fifth of its $2.3bn capex in the first half to iron ore development projects in Brazil and South Africa. Its project pipeline for the steelmaking ore has expanded fivefold since 2007. BHP Billiton, with capex in its year to June at more than 40 per cent of its $30bn net operating cash flow, has set aside $8.4bn for iron ore projects this year. Rio Tintoand Valealso invest hard in capacity.
manbetx3.0 支付的铁矿石价格已从9月份的顶点下降了近四分之一，降至每吨138美元。但矿商们并没有表现出减缓资本支出的迹象。英美资源集团(Anglo American)将其上半年23亿美元资本支出的五分之一，投入了巴西和南非的铁矿石开发项目。自2007年以来，其炼钢用铁矿石开发项目的规模已经扩大了四倍。在截至6月份的财年里，必和必拓(BHP Billiton)的资本支出较其300亿美元的净营运现金流多出40%。今年，必和必拓已拨出84亿美元用于铁矿石项目。力拓(Rio Tinto)和淡水河谷(Vale)也斥巨资扩大产能。