Global iron-ore slump fails to end glut as mines expand

Singapore

THE collapse in global iron-ore prices isn't chasing Gina Rinehart away from the red soil of Western Australia that made her a billionaire. Like producers in Brazil and some in China, she can still profit from the metal.

At the US$8 billion Roy Hill mine Ms Rinehart is building in the Pilbara region, where her father made the first discoveries in the 1950s, ore must sell for about US$56 a tonne at Chinese ports to avoid losses, and costs are even lower for Australian output from Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd, UBS Group AG data show. Even with prices down 65 per cent from a record in 2011, top buyer China pays US$67 for the steel-making ore today.