The chief of BHP Billiton called on the offices of China's top steelmaker on Wednesday as BHP presses its case for a takeover of rival Rio Tinto amid a mounting chorus of opposition to the merger from its customers.
Representatives at Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel), the listed unit of China's largest steel maker, declined to comment on BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers' discussions at Baosteel headquarters in Shanghai, and prevented reporters from approaching him for comments as he left the building.
A Beijing-based spokesman for BHP, the world's biggest mining group, also declined to comment.
A source briefed on the meetings described them as very straightforward and businesslike. He said the meetings were an opportunity for Kloppers to explain the logic of the deal and to hear Chinese reaction to it.
A state newspaper reported on Tuesday that China's steel industry, the world's largest, was deeply concerned about the merger -- which would create the world's biggest mining force, with control of huge amounts of iron ore, copper, coal, uranium, diamonds and other commodities for industrial use.
Chinese steel companies fear a merger of the two mining giants would create "an even bigger monopoly," the China Metallurgical News quoted an unnamed leader of the China Iron and Steel Association as saying.