Over the past two days, while the whole world had its eyes on the Okinawa Base incident, turmoil in the global iron ore market had also intensified.
More and more cheap iron ore from "Atlantis Mine" flooded Zhonghua's domestic market, rapidly seizing almost 30% of the market share. As a result, sales of imported iron ore at coastal ports kept falling, while inventories soared.
Meanwhile, iron ore prices across the country fell under the pressure, and futures hit their daily downward limits for several consecutive trading sessions!
Then this pessimism over iron ore prices began spreading around the world. Iron ore prices on the London Metal Exchange plunged by a full tenth in a short time, with signs of further declines to come.
The four mining giants truly could not sit still this time. Following their earlier strategy, they stockpiled iron ore in an attempt to stabilize prices, but in the end, they had still underestimated Atlantis's output. Their losses this time were devastating!
Rio Tinto headquarters.
"Where exactly is this 'Atlantis' mine?! Have you still not traced the source of this ore?" Rio Tinto's president roared at his subordinates.
"Sir, we followed your instructions and tracked the freighters. We discovered that after unloading, all of them sailed to an island in the South China Sea that the Chu Group had leased from Zhonghua..."
"I'm asking you where the ore comes from, not where its transfer station is!" Rio Tinto's president snapped.
"Th-that really is the source, sir. After those freighters entered the island's docks, they sailed out the next day fully loaded with ore bound for Zhonghua's coastal ports. It was as though the ore had appeared out of thin air!
"I guarantee it. Our people were watching the entire surrounding area. Those ships definitely didn't go anywhere else