172 UTAH INTERNATIONAL: A BIOGRAPHY OF A BUSINESS producer controlled by a Luxembourg steel consortium, to consider a program to transport iron ore 190 miles from the Belo Horizonte mine site in the state of Minas Gerais to an Atlantic port plant for processing and slurry loading. In addition, Marcona’s new subsidiary Marconaflo, Inc., began negotiations with Anaconda Copper Corporation and others regarding the use of its patented system. It further submitted European bids for proposed pelletizing plants in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Marseilles. Bold expansion schemes continued throughout 1972-73. For example, the Brazil venture (renamed Samarco) worked to attract Saudi Arabia into a joint enterprise to construct and operate a steel mill. The proposal called for the Saudi state-run Petromin Corporation to own 50 percent of the operation, with the other 50 percent owned by a consortium under Marcona leadership that included long-term Japanese associates such as Nippon Steel. The mill, to be supplied with Samarco ore, was scheduled to open operations in 1976 under the management of Petromar, a joint partnership between the Saudis and a Marcona-Gil consortium called Marsteel (with Marcona holding 40 percent ownership). Although nothing materialized from these negotiations, they clearly demonstrated the propensity of Marcona to develop complicated plans to foster diversification. On the successful side of this effort, Marcona acquired a Bahama-based aragonite (a mineral containing calcium carbonate) submarine mining operation. A newly created subsidiary, Marcona Ocean Industries, Ltd. (MOI), would produce the natural form of calcium carbonate for use in the cement industry as well as for glass manufacturing and acid neutralization. Meanwhile the Peruvian government launched a new nationalization campaign leading to major expropriation strikes against two American-dominated industries. In May 1973, Lima nationalized fish meal (made from dried and pulverized anchovies) and put all fish-meal companies under a state agency called Pescaperu, thus eliminating the successful operations of twelve American firms, including Heinz and General Mills. For Marcona, the second major expropriation hit much closer to home—the Cerro Corporation, a mining concern with six Andean sites producing lead, zinc, and copper. The country’s largest employer with more than 17,000 workers, Cerro’s book-value investments of