http://www.*.co.uk/companies/news/59161/west-afr...

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/59161/west-african-minerals-bullish-on-long-term-iron-ore-outlook-59161.html

West African Minerals (LON:WAFM) has maintained a bullish stance iron ore prices in the longer term.

Brad Mills, the newly appointed president of the explorer, and a former head of strategy at giant BHP Billiton, said a key factor was Chinese domestic production, which was currently on a "knife edge".

"It's a third of their (China's) internal consumption and it's all around US$120/t type cost," he told Proactive.

He said China can't really afford for iron ore prices to fall lower than where they are now without handing the market to the main players such as Vale, BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio (LON:RIO).

"So I think that what you'll see is that there will be effectively a balancing of the market in the US$120/t-US$140/t range and it may dip below that briefly but it won't stay there."