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re: price rise FMG cpmpleted financing preparation. price near to $6, possibly in part due to expected Fe contract increase. All systems go.............T - 40 days and counting....

"Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group said yesterday it hoped to kick off the funding campaign for its $2.5 billion Pilbara iron ore venture next month, after handing over its development and financing plans to US investment giant Citigroup.

Fortescue operations director Graeme Rowley said the company had completed its so-called "40-day plan" for the ambitious 45 million-tonnes-a-year project, and it was now up to Citigroup to determine the timing and method of the fundraising initiative.

The 40-day plan involved completing a 60-point checklist of key milestones to make the project "finance-ready".

"We've finished our internal program . . . and we have now presented it to Citigroup," Mr Rowley said. "Citigroup now have their people looking at us from a due diligence perspective. That process will probably take place over the next couple of weeks.

"So we're hopeful of talking in positive terms about the financing in the next six weeks or so at the outside."

After letting shareholder approvals lapse for a potential $400 million share issue earlier this month, Fortescue is considering a range of funding initiatives, understood to include a $US600 million-plus ($835 million) bond issue in the US and the sale of equity in both the mining and infrastructure operations of the project.

Fortescue has previously indicated it is targeting a 70:30 debt-to-equity funding split for its financing plans.

To that end, Fortescue this month flagged it might sell shares in two key subsidiaries formed to hold the primary mining and transport assets - FMG Chichester and The Pilbara Infrastructure (TPI).