Steel titan ArcelorMittal (MT) said Monday that it is in the process of shipping its one millionth ton of iron ore from Liberia since it began operations last year, and is on track to ship 4 million tons of the steelmaking raw ingredient in 2012.

The company said it is shipping its one millionth ton of direct shipping iron ore from the Buchanan terminal to a customer in China.

"Production has been operating at an annualized rate of 4 million tons per annum since late 2011 and the company is now in commercial ramp up phase with trial cargoes being dispatched to global steel mills," the company said.

Kleber Silva, Vice President and Head of ArcelorMittal Iron Ore Operations said "the company is on track to reach its targets and has plans to be capable of loading cape size vessels via offshore loading from late 2012, with ore destined [to] iron and steel mills in Europe and Asia."

ArcelorMittal aims to increase its total iron ore production to 100 million tons a year by 2015. It invested $800 million to rehabilitate the railroad, port, and infrastructure around the mine in Yekepa in Liberia.

The steelmaker said around 91% of the people working at the mine are local Liberians.

-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9328; alex.macdonald@dowjones.com

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