Diversified-miner Rio Tinto has signed long-term contracts to supply iron-ore to Hyundai Steel, under which more than 40-million tons of iron ore from the Pilbara region, in Western Australia, will be exported to the Korean producer over the next 10 years, the company said.

Hyundai Steel is Korea’s second largest steel maker and the world’s second largest electric arc furnace producer.

Under the contracts, Hamersley Iron, Robe River and Hope Downs will begin shipments in 2009, ramping up to an annual total of 4,6-million tons from 2012 to 2019.

“Rio Tinto has enjoyed a long relationship with Korea, going back to our first shipment in 1973. These agreements with Hyundai Steel are the culmination of several years’ negotiations and open the next chapter in what has been a successful, mutually rewarding partnership,” Rio Tinto iron ore CEO Sam Walsh said in a statement.

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