Sino Iron, the large $8-billion magnetite project in Australia, is being built by Chinese company Citic Pacific, whose chairperson, Chang Zhenming, is seen in Hong Kong presenting 9%-higher yearly earnings, despite costs doubling within the company’s iron-ore unit. State-backed Citic is now focusing on increasing production at the delay- and cost-overrun-dogged project. The new mine and processing plant, which shipped its first ore in December, is located 100 km south-west of Karratha, in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.