(Yicai Global) Oct. 12 -- Brazil’s largest mining firm Vale will form a joint venture with Chinese mega-port operator Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group to build a wharf with an annual capacity of 20 million tons of iron ore for CNY4.3 billion (USD640 million).

Vale’s Vale International unit and Ningbo Zhoushan Port are to hold a 50 percent stake each in the JV, which has CNY1.5 billion in registered capital, Ningbo Zhoushan Port, which is on an island off China’s east coast just to the south of Shanghai, announced on Oct. 10.

The new dock in Zhoushan will be able to accommodate a 150,000-ton and a 100,000-ton ship berthing at the same time, per the announcement, and it will house a new istorage yard capable of holding 4.1 million tons of iron ore.

The project awaits government approval, per the announcement, which also noted the JV will finish construction of the wharf within three years after gaining a construction permit.

This is not the first partnership between the two firms. An iron ore processing center with an annual 3 million-ton capacity the two jointly built went into production in August.

Ningbo Zhoushan Port’s stock [SHA:601018] was up 0.51 percent at CNY3.91 (58 US cents) in midafternoon.

Editor: Ben Armour