China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) long-term plan is largely about trade and investments by land and sea stretching all the way up to Europe. The backward linkage is huge mining demand for both metallic and non-metallic products — steel, cement, coal power, etc.
The BusinessWorld report says,
The plan to develop infrastructure and rebuild ancient trading routes from China to Europe overland and by sea has seen projects initiated worth about $1.3 trillion, according to Melbourne-based BHP, the biggest exporter of coking coal and the third-largest iron ore supplier. Investments worth $313 billion to $502 billion could be funneled to 62 Belt-Road countries over the next five years, Credit Suisse Group AG said last month.
Big opportunity for miners in the Asia-Pacific, indeed.