South Africa will be an important supplier of iron ore and other mining resources to China in the future, said Zhang Tieshan, an analyst from steel information provider Mysteel.com.

South Africa is currently the third-largest iron ore exporter to China, following Australia and Brazil, he said.

"According to the China Iron and Steel Association, China's steel industry will expand its overseas mining assets to around 50 percent of its total resources in future," he said.

According to the statement, the deal needs to be approved by South African and Chinese regulators.

Zhang said it should be a successful transaction and a profitable deal due to the participation of Chinese private capital.

Privately owned General Nice is China's largest coke exporter and coking coal importer with annual revenue of around 100 billion yuan ($15.8 billion), according to the company.

"Private companies closely evaluate the profitability of acquisitions to ensure the value of the deal since they cannot cope with high investment risks," Zhang said.

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