KIEV, Sept. 26 - Arcelor Mittal Kryviy Rih, Ukraine’s No. 1 steel mill, and Illich Steel, the No. 2 mill, have formed a consortium to bid for development of a major iron ore deposit, the companies reported Wednesday.

This comes days after the State Property Fund postponed indefinitely the signing of the agreement with a rival Russian-Ukrainian consortium seeking to develop the same deposit.