Iron Ore Miner Fortescue Secures More China Demand

Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals has secured an increase in supply to China, the firm said on Thursday, in a trading update that stood in stark contrast to gloom surrounding the rest of the industry.

Fortescue said in the update it had also seized on an opportunity to buy back some of its own bonds at a steep discount to their face value, after the paper fell in the secondary market.

Australia's third-largest iron ore producer, behind Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, said it had renegotiated a contract with one Chinese steel mill to sell an additional 3.5 million more tons of ore in 2009.

It also reported a "trading profit" of A$360m ($232m), based on sales of 6.8 million tons of ore, for the three months to end-September, but did not give a comparison.

Reporting by James Regan, Reuters.