MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Oct. 18, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had assigned a 'B' corporate credit rating to the Australian iron ore mining company, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (Fortescue). The outlook on the rating is positive. At the same time, we assigned a 'B' rating to the proposed US144a issuance of about US$2 billion senior unsecured notes by Fortescue's funding arm, FMG Resources (August 2006) Pty Ltd. (FMG, not rated). The proceeds of the issue will be used to refinance existing debt. "The 'B' corporate credit rating reflects our view of Fortescue's profile as a relatively long-life, low-cost iron ore producer, the quality of the group's iron ore mines in the Pilbara region of Western
