Bloomberg reported that Baosteel Group Corp China second biggest steelmaker, agreed to develop coking coal mines with a domestic partner to secure raw material supplies as prices surge.

The State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said without giving details that Baosteel signed an initial agreement with Jizhong Energy Fengfeng Group on May 18th to develop two mines which will have a combined capacity of 3.9 million tonnes a year.

Baosteel and Japan Nippon Steel Corp and South Korea POSCO are all seeking resource investments as mining companies take advantage of the economic recovery to raise prices. BHP Billiton Ltd won a second price increase this year from Japanese mills this week.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)