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

As for the Mining Boom III, the pick up in export volumes flowing from the surge in mining investment in iron ore, coal and liquid natural gas will start to get underway around 2014-15.

BBC: Viewpoint: Is Australia's resources boom over?

Simply put, Ford would get into the iron-mining business if it were cheaper than buying steel on the open market.

WSJ: Book Review: The Org