Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) is studying the sale of part of its stake in Congonhas Minérios to the Chinese company Brazil Xinnenghuan International Investment Co Ltd, reports Reuters financial agency.

Citing knowledgeable sources, the agency explains that China Brazil Xinnenghuan International Investment, also known as CBSteel, aims to purchase a 25 percent share of CSN’s 88 percent stake in Congonhas Minérios, Brazil’s second-ranking iron ore producer.

The Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported last August that CBSteel planned to buy 30 percent of Congonhas Minérios, in which a group of six Asian companies already holds a 12 percent stake.

Congonhas Minérios was founded in late 2014 by merging the Casa da Pedra mine, a company 100 percent held by CSN, and Namisa, a partnership with those six Asian companies for iron ore production.

The six Asian companies are Itochu Corp, Nisshin Steel Co Ltd, JFE Steel Corp and Kobe Steel Ltd from Japan, Posco from South Korea and China Steel Corp from Taiwan.

One result of Brazilian President Michel Temer’s visit to China was the signing of a contract with the CBSteel group to build a steelworks in Bacabeira municipality in Maranhão state, for an estimated cost of US$3 billion. (Macauhub)