Bloomberg reported that Safin Handels GmbH a Vienna based metals trader hired Morgan Stanley to sell its Lomonosov iron ore deposit in Kazakhstan.

The company earlier had planned output of about 6 million tonnes of iron ore a year at the site from 2015 competing with Eurasian Natural Resources Corp Kazakhstan largest iron ore producer.

Mr Dmitry Smolin an analyst at UralSib Capital in Moscow said “This asset is located in geographical proximity to production sites of Russian steelmakers OAO Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel and OAO Mechel. They are unlikely to overpay for it though, as they have better opportunities in Russia to acquire Greenfield iron ore projects.”

Mr Ekaterina Videman spokeswoman for Mechel in Moscow declined to comment. Mr Kirill Golubkov spokesman for Magnitogorsk in Moscow also declined to comment.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)