18.5c Top, page-3

The real wealth made in FMG was before the sp split.

Most ppl only know what they see now on the chart but it went from a stock in cents to a stock over $75 before it had a stock split.

Those were the days

Fortescue's shares soar 68% in May
17-May-07 by AAP
http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story.php?/1/52393/Fortescue-s-shares-soar-68-in-May/dba

The share price of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd had another strong run today, following the announcement of a revised iron ore off-take agreement taking its total share price gains for May to an extraordinary 68 per cent.

Today's off-take agreement, with China's third largest steel mill, Tangshan Iron and Steel Group, help the price surge, with shares jumping 11.6 per cent.

Shares in the company closed at $37.40 today, compared with the May 1 share price of $22.25.

The deal with Tangshan, China's third largest steel mill, could be notionally worth up $12.14 billion to Fortescue and mirrors a similar deal with China's largest steel mill, Baosteel.

The 10-year offtake agreement covers a first-phase quantity of five million tonnes a year of Fortescue's initial 45 million tonne-per-annum output from its Chichester Range iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Tangshan has committed to purchase a further minimum of 15 million tonnes annually of Fortescue's planned expanded production.

The pact replaces and expands an existing offtake agreement between the parties, allowing for an increase in volume and an adjustment to the type of ore to be sold.

Fortescue executive director Graeme Rowley said the offtake agreement signed with Baosteel in March gave the company credibility in the eyes of other steel mills.

"The moment Baosteel agreed, that obviously had a domino affect, which is enormously satisfying to us," Mr Rowley told AAP.

"It gave us credibility that the largest steel mill in China said we are going to go to the tune of 20 million (tonnes per annum) and everyone else said `we'd better get on this bandwagon'."

The Baosteel deal has been estimated by Fortescue as worth about $1.21 billion a year.

Fortescue's is expected to ship the first ore from its $3.7 billion Chichester Range project in mid-May 2008.

The company is slated to export about 25 million tonnes of iron ore in the first year from the mine, about 260 kilometres south-east of Port Hedland, before ramping up production to 45 million tonnes a year.

The company has plans to increase output to 60 million tonnes annually before further increasing output to 110 million tonnes per annum.

Mr Rowley said Fortescue had agreements with about 15 different parties and that there was continuing interest from Chinese mills, along with steel mills outside of China.