But could China replace Australian iron ore with metal from somewhere else?
Part of the answer lies at a place called Simandou, deep in the interior of Guinea, in west Africa. It is home to the biggest undeveloped iron ore deposit in the world, which Chinese interests are keen to bring to production as soon as possible.
It’s been dubbed the “Pilbara killer”, due to the flood of high-quality ore, better than what BHP and Rio Tinto dig up in Western Australia, that will be unleashed on the market when it finally gets going.
