Xinhua reported that China has discovered nearly 5 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits in 2009.

Mr Zhang Hongtao chief engineer with the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources said that the deposits were discovered in provinces including North Eastern Liaoning, Northern Hebei, Eastern Shandong & Anhui and South Western Sichuan.
Mr Zhang aid that “The total discovered deposit include an iron ore deposit with an estimated reserve of more than 3 billion tonnes in Northeast China's Liaoning Province and 1 billion tonnes of verified iron deposits in Hebei.”

He said the 1 billion tonnes of verified reserves in Hebei was easy to mining with their shallow depth.
Mr Zhang added that “The reserves in Hebei have been put under a national construction plan and would become an important iron ore source to China's iron industry once put into production.”