Aussie Minister meets with S. Korean businessman over sale of mining company

Australia's Industry Minister has travelled to South Korea in an attempt to negotiate the sale of one of Australia's biggest mining companies to South Korea's largest steel manufacturer.

Greg Hunt, Australia's Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, said on Wednesday from Pohang he would meet with executives from South Korean firm, Posco, as he tries to find a buyer for Arrium, an Australian mining and materials company.

Posco is the only company to have publicly indicated an interest in acquiring Arrium which went into administration in April with debts of up to three billion U.S. dollars.

Despite Arrium's revenue of 4.5 billion US dollars in the 2015 financial year, the company, whose biggest mine is in Whyalla in South Australia (SA), registered a 1.45 billion US dollar loss.

"We are only here because this is a deadly serious bid and we're deadly serious that Australia and South Australia will do all they can to give the workers the best shot at a deep long-term future," Hunt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

He said his number one priority was to support "a buyer that is going to invest, a buyer that is going to commit and a buyer that ultimately is going to give those workers, those families, the magnificent community of Whyalla a deep long-term future". Endit