Brazilian miner Mineração Buritirama SA has taken an order from China Minmetals Corp. for a 10-year supply of manganese, Valor Económico reports.

Mineração Buritirama will supply the manganese at the rate of 1.5 million tonnes a year, and the Chinese state-owned trading company will make an advance payment of US$400 million, according to a report carried by the Brazilian newspaper on Wednesday, the day after the deal was signed.

The report quotes the major shareholder in Mineração Buritirama, João Araújo, as saying the deal will allow the miner to make new investments and create more jobs.

Mineração Buritirama means to increase the output of its mine in northern Brazil to 3 million tonnes a year from 2.5 million tonnes, the report says.

The company exports about 90 per cent of the manganese it mines, mainly to China, Japan and South Korea, Valor Económico says.