Three Chinese firms will pay $1.95 billion for a 15 percent stake in Brazilian rare metal mining firm CBMM, the world's biggest producer of niobium, state media said Thursday. Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group, financial conglomerate CITIC Group and Baosteel Group set up an investment vehicle for the deal, due to be completed Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency said on its website.
CBMM, or Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao, produces niobium, a rare metal crucial to the production of high-grade steel for automobiles and other products. China has been snapping up strategic reserves of key resources globally. Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group, based in the northern province of Shanxi, couldn't be reached for comment late Thursday. The deal follows a similar move by a consortium of Japanese and South Korean companies, which also took a $1.95 billion stake in CBMM in March. Japanese members of the consortium included Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, trading house Sojitz and the state Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. The South Korean entities were Posco and the National Pension Service (NPS).
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