Anhui Province-based Chinese steelmaker Maanshan Iron and Steel (Masteel) has announced that its Baixiang Mountain iron ore mine has commenced pilot production.

Reserves at the mine are estimated at 41 million mt with an average 39 percent iron content. Investment in the project is expected to reach RMB 780 million ($126.8 million). With the start of production operations, annual outputs of raw iron ore and iron ore concentrate from the mine are expected to total 2 million mt and 930,000 mt respectively.