China discovers 5-bln-tonne iron deposits in 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 15 -- China discovered nearly 5 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits in 2009, chief engineer with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) said Friday.

The deposits were discovered in provinces including northeastern Liaoning, northern Hebei, eastern Shandong and Anhui,and southwestern Sichuan, said Zhang Hongtao, MLR chief engineer.

The total discovered deposits included an iron ore deposit withan estimated reserve of more than 3 billion tonnes in northeast China's Liaoning Province and 1 billion tonnes of verified iron deposits in Hebei, said Zhang.

He said the 1 billion tonnes of verified reserves in Hebei was easy to mining with their shallow depth.

The reserves in Hebei have been put under a national construction plan and would become an important iron ore source to China's iron industry once put into production, Zhang said.