JOHANNESBURG--February 7, 2013--Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Global demand for iron ore is expected to reach 2.6 billion tons in the next seven years and China will remain the largest consumer of the iron ore feed for steel making. Speaking at this week's Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa, Diedrik Tas of McKinsey & Company also said that prices would remain high, but that this would be due to rising operational costs, not increased demand.