BEIJING: Iron ore futures touched a one-week high on Monday as Rio Tinto suspended activity at its Simandou project in Guinea following an incident, raising fears of a potential delay in production start at the mine.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed daytime trade 2.27 percent higher at 787 yuan (USD110.06) a metric ton, its highest since August 14. The benchmark September iron ore on the Singapore Exchange rose 2.69percent to $103.3 a ton, as of 0810 GMT, the highest since August 14.
Rio Tinto, the world’s largest iron ore miner, said on Saturday it had suspended activities at Guinea’s SimFer mine site after an incident there left a contract worker dead.
The miner, which owns two of the four Simandou mining blocks as part of its SimFer joint venture with China’s Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) and the Guinea government, had earlier expected the first iron ore shipment in November.
Rio Tinto did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Supporting prices of the key steelmaking ingredient, near-term demand remained firm despite production restrictions on mills in top Chinese steelmaking hub Tangshan to ensure clean air in Beijing ahead of a military parade to commemorate the end of World War Two.