CHINA'S third-largest steel maker, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp, or WISCO, completed a joint venture yesterday with Australian Centrex Metals Ltd (CXM) to develop iron ore mines on south Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

WISCO paid A$51.5 million (US$43.7 million) to CXM for mineral exploitation rights and another A$50 million to the joint venture to cover the cost of the first-phrase exploration, said sources of the central China-based WISCO.

The joint project, with an estimated investment of US$1.5 billion, is expected to annually produce 33 million tons of raw iron ore, along with 10 million tons of refined iron ore, the sources said.

With a controlling share of the new joint venture, WISCO would have the final say on the exploration and operation of the Australian iron ore mines.

CXM owns several mining sites in south Australia. The project area with WISCO is believed to have deposits of 2.282 billion tons of iron ore.