BHP, Rio Tinto and Brazilian mining company Vale are the top three suppliers of iron ore to China.

必和必拓、力拓及巴西淡水河谷矿业公司是中国的三大铁矿石国际供应商。

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Vale is the world's second largest mining company and the planet's biggest iron ore producer.

作为世界第二大矿业公司，“谷”也是全球最大的铁矿石出产地。

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Even before the recent price increase, iron-ore mining was a very profitable business.

甚至在最近价格提升之前，铁矿石开采就已经是富得流油的产业了。

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One reason, argues Ian Maxwell of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, an investment bank, is that only the biggest firms can afford to get over the high barriers to entry in the high-return, low-risk niches of the mining business: iron ore, alumina, diamonds and industrial minerals.

ECONOMIST: Mining

Up to 10, 000 people were employed in the mining industry but also at the Kirkless iron and steel works.

BBC: Nature plan for ex-steel works in Wigan

In late May, Japanese and South Korean steelmakers agreed price cuts with the three mining companies that dominate the trade in iron ore Rio, BHP Billiton and Vale.

ECONOMIST: Rio Tinto and China