n Australia into a mine producing an average 4.5 million metric tons of the key ingredient in steel production over some 48 years. The company said the project, which it equally owns with Vale SA (VALE), has a resource of 959 million tons and a reserve of 254 million tons. It is located in the coal-rich Bowen Basin in central Queensland, neardated Airlines Group SA (IAG.LN, IAG.MC)--that has seven weekly slots and Deutsche Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) British Midland International, which has four. Bmi also borrows three weekly slots from Star Alliance partner EgyptAir. EasyJet originally had hoped to start flights to Cairo in November but its application for certain time slots was rejected because of its low-cost model, said people familiar with the matter. In order to gain approval, they said easyJet has been asked to change its no-frills strategy, including having two classes of service instead of one at present, halting the sale of food on board and introducing a member of staff to collect taxes. The Egyptian civil aviation authority could be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Department for Transport said discussions were still open but those talks had "hit a hiatus" when civil unrest erupted at the start of the year. He said "talks will resume shortly," adding that the current situation hasn't meant EgyptAir has been prevented from using its full allocation of slots in the U.K. "Whether they are using them all would be an operational matter for the airline, but they are certainly within their rights to do so," the DfT spokesman added. At the moment, the foot-dragging doesn't pose a problem to the easyJet because of the subdued demand for travel to Egypt since unrest broke out across the North African and Middle Eastern earlier this year. Still, there is hope the government will take a different approach and agreement can be reached soon. EasyJet already flies to Sharm el Sheikh, Luxor and Hurghada in Egypt, but those airports come under the open skies agreement and need no approval from the civil aviation body. About 15 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. Its unlikely easyJet will adapt its strategy and any drastic change may not go down well with the CAA, which granted it the slots ahead of BA and bmi. In September, the CAA awarded easyJet the additional slots because the carrier would introduce a no-frills service operating from Gatwick, which would lead to the greatest consumer benefit and increase competitive pressure on