Mining giant BHP has moved to calm fears of a major rift brewing over Australia’s lucrative iron ore exports, amid reports Beijing has temporarily blocked Chinese steel mills from buying shipments from the company.

Australia’s biggest miner has refused to confirm or deny reports that Chinese steelmakers have been banned from striking dollar-denominated purchase deals with it in a bid to gain leverage in drawn-out iron ore price negotiations.

However, speaking at a business event in Perth on Wednesday morning, BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery defended the company’s relationship with the Chinese steel industry as “one that goes back decades and decades”, and insisted the current negotiations were not out of the ordinary.

“We’ve got decades of strong business in front of us,” she

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