Figure represents about a third of the country’s iron ore mines currently in operations.
Iron ore prices resumed their downward trend Wednesday after China announced it would revoke about a third of its iron ore mining licences, mostly belonging to small polluting operations amid a government-led crackdown on smog and outdated steelmaking capacity.
Lei Pingxi, chief engineer at China’s Metallurgical Mines Association, said the measure would affect about 1,000 small mines, most of which have tried bypassing Beijing’s efforts to improve air quality by closing briefly and so survive inspections.
Those operations, however, will now be forced to upgrade their production processes or face permanent closure, Reuters reports.
Iron ore prices fell on the announcement. After jumping 3% to $64.95 a tonne on Tuesday — its largest one-day percentage increase since August 31 — ore with 62% content in the port of Qingdao fell again Wednesday, to $64.15 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin.
Further falls are predicted in the price of iron ore to around $60 a tonne by the end of the year as China also enforces environmental restrictions on steel production, according to analysts.
