its getting around

This is copied from the ARH thread 2nd to last paragaphe is of intrest
Getting rich under the radar John Beveridge

May 31, 2007 12:00am
HE IS Australia's newest billionaire ... but don't tell too many people.

Clive Palmer has enjoyed a meteoric rise since 1987 when he was a property developer pushing along the Joh for Canberra campaign for the Queensland National Party.

His rapid elevation direct to the still elusive billionaire section of BRW's rich list has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with two big developments.

The first is the rise of China and Palmer's early decision to deal directly with the resource hungry country and the second is the rapid escalation in the value of magnetite iron ore.

Palmer is literally sitting on mountains of the stuff - up to 100 billion tonnes - and the world's steel makers are now clamouring for access to it.

Magnetite ore wasn't rated when Palmer got his hands on it in the 1980s but things have changed as the world continues to chew through reserves of the more highly prized hematite ore.

Now China is desperate to offset climbing iron ore prices by getting independent access to magnetite ore which can be turned into pellets and fed into its hungry steel furnaces.

Palmer has been happy to oblige, initially doing a $290 million deal with Chinese investment house Citic Pacific run by Chinese billionaire Larry Yung.

That was China's biggest direct investment in Australia's iron ore industry but only the start of the massive development of Cape Preston in the Pilbara.

Under deals with Palmer's rejuvenated Australasian Resources, the company is developing magnetite projects purely to feed Chinese demand.

That has led to offtake agreements with China's fourth biggest steel maker Shougang and billions of dollars in planned infrastructure investments.

While the booming fortunes of iron ore magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest and his deals with China have captured all of the attention, Palmer has largely slipped under the radar.

Yesterday's deal by Centrex Metals with two big Chinese steel companies is the latest example of how China is desperately trying to get independent supplies of iron ore so it is no longer entirely at the mercy of the big suppliers BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Brazil's CVRD.

In the process, Australia's men and women of steel - Clive Palmer, Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest - have all joined or leapfrogged higher up the ranks of the billionaires