UPDATE: Glencore Open To Mining Iron Ore, Not Just Marketing

Glencore International PLC (GLEN.LN) will continue to grow its presence in iron ore, a key steelmaking raw ingredient, via marketing opportunities and equity investments, the company's Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg said Thursday.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be a miner," Glasenberg told reporters in a media call. "We have always said we wish to grow the iron ore business since it" became a spot tradeable business, he added.

When asked whether Glencore would consider entering an agreement with Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) to market any iron ore produced by Xstrata, Glasenberg said "we have a close relation but there is no reason to say they are the miner and we are the marketer....If opportunities present themselves, we will become the miners."

Glencore owns a 34.5% stake in Xstrata and has commercial agreements to market Xstrata's nickel and zinc output but such commercial agreements haven't prevented Glencore from investing in its own operations, Glasenberg noted.

Xstrata exported its first iron ore concentrate in June from its Australian Ernest Henry mine. It also invested this year in iron ore development projects in Mauritania and the Republic of Congo.

Glasenberg said the company would be open to purchasing iron ore assets when the opportunities present themselves and would continue to seek more commercial agreements with iron ore producers.

It already has several commercial agreements, including one in Australia, another in Sierra Leone and a third in the U.S.

Glencore Wednesday agreed to purchase 48% of Australian iron ore miner Mount Gibson Iron Ltd.'s (MGX.AU) output from its planned Extension Hill mine and in January secured an offtake agreement from London Mining PLC's (LOND.OS) Sierra Leone mine for 9.5 million tons of iron ore over a five-year period.

Glencore and U.S.-based mining company Wings Enterprises Inc. have also agreed to jointly develop an abandoned magnetite mine in Missouri to produce rare earths and iron ore. Glencore will have exclusive rights to market the ore.

Iron ore marketing volumes decreased by 1.2 million tons to 2.9 million tons in the first half compared to with the first half of last year mainly due to reduced availability of spot cargoes from Brazil and Australia.

-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail] (David Fickling in Sydney contributed to this article.)