The Australian companies believe they have an advantage: their costs of shipping iron ore to China are about one-third those of Brazil, their main competitor.

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Since 2007 Galantas Gold Corporation, a Canadian firm, has been working what is currently Britain's only gold-producing mine at Omagh, in Northern Ireland, shipping the ore to Canada and running a small gold-jewellery operation.

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It is also a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia.

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The Asia Pacific iron ore division provides four direct shipping export products to Asia via the global seaborne trade market, and has a rated annual production capacity of 9 million tons of iron ore.

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In the business of shipping dry-bulk cargoes, mostly iron ore, coal and grain, there is not even the hint of a silver lining to the cloud.

ECONOMIST: Shipping

Freight rates hit a record low Wednesday on weak demand for iron ore, poor weather conditions in mining regions and a glut of shipping capacity.

WSJ: Global Shipping Faces More Choppy Waters

"The shipping market has been hit by a triple whammy of bad weather, weaker Chinese iron-ore demand and public holidays, " Mr. Williams of Braemar Seascope said.

WSJ: Global Shipping Faces More Choppy Waters