Strategic shareholder POSCO Australia has exercised its remaining 10 million options to invest a further Aus$5 million into Murchison Metals. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world"s third largest steel producer, POSCO Ltd of South Korea and this increases its interest in Murchison Metals to approximately 12% of the current listed share capital.

Executive chairman Paul Kopejtka says the Murchison Metals Board welcomes POSCO'S further strong show of support for the company's Jack Hills and Weld Range iron ore projects which further strengthened the relationship between POSCO and Murchison Metals.

"The exercise of the options by POSCO is a clear signal of POSCO's confidence in MMX's exploration and mining strategy and a strong recognition of the potential of Jack Hills and Weld Range to become major iron ore developments. The achievement of Stage 1 production and the significant progress MMX has made towards completion of the feasibility study for Stage 2 are also considered significant factors in POSCO's decision to exercise their options early. POSCO now holds a strategic 12% shareholding, has signed an off-take agreement for up to 10 million tonnes/year of iron ore from Stage 2 of the Jack Hills Project and is a key member in an infrastructure consortium bidding to build and develop the northern corridor rail and port infrastructure in the mid west region of Western Australia."

"Importantly, this multi-faceted strategic relationship has developed while Murchison Metals has retained 100% control of its projects at Jack Hills and Weld Range," Paul Kopejtka says.

"We believe this puts Murchison Metals in the best possible position to grow through Stages 1 and 2 of the Jack Hills Project, as we seek to increase annual production up to 25 million tonnes per annum." www.mml.net.au

News sourced from International Mining Project News - www.im-mining.com