Resourcehouse Ltd., an iron ore and coal mining company owned by Clive Palmer, recently secured one of Australia's largest export contracts, worth an estimated US$60 billion. The company said it had reached a 20-year sales agreement with China Power International Holding Ltd. The contract involves the Resourcehouse proposed China First coal mine and infrastructure project in central Queensland.

Palmer recently floated an IPO for Resourcehouse on the Hong Kong stock exchange and plans to invest more than $10 billion to develop two coal mines in Central Qeensland’s Galilee Basin.

Palmer also announced that Metallurgical Corp. signed a US$8 billion EPC contract to build China First. Metallurgical Corp. reportedly agreed to take a 10% stake in the project. The mine will transport coal to a new terminal across a new 300-mile railroad.

China First, which is expected to start operations in the second half of 2013 and produce as much as 40 million metric tons a year (mt/y), may become one of the world’s biggest exporters of steam coal, according to Macquarie Group. The company also owns the rights to 10 billion mt of iron ore in the Pilbara region in Western Australia and has the potential to become the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer.

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