Chinese steelmaker Anshan Iron & Steel Group (AnSteel) has received formal approval from the Chinese government for its share placement worth 162.06 million Australian dollars (about US$126.4 million) with Australian iron ore miner Gindalbie Metals Ltd., reported Wednesday's China Daily.

AnSteel gets govn't approval for Gindalbie investment [CFP]

It marks the latest success of a Chinese steel mill securing its iron ore supplies through overseas investment.

The Australian company said in a statement on its website that the Chinese government approval was the final remaining condition required to complete the placement of 190,658,824 shares to Angang Group Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited at 0.85 Australian dollar per share.

The deal got approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board in May.

After the share placement, AnSteel will increase its stake in Gindalbie from the previous 12 percent to 36 percent.

Gindalbie said the two companies will be working to complete the placement procedures within the next seven days and the completion would allow both companies to make final equity contributions of 143.68 million Australian dollars each to complete the entire 534-million-Australian dollar equity component of the funding package for Gindalbie's Karara Iron Ore Project near Geraldton, in western Australia.

The balance of the capital for the Karara project will come through a Project Loan Facility of up to 1.2 billion Australian dollars from China Development Bank.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2009)