Voracious appetites make for a good story. When allegations of spying are involved, the yarn is all the more interesting.

Take China's arrest last week of four officials from Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd. Detained July 5, they now are charged with trafficking in trade secrets and bribery related to information they received about China's steel industry.

That's where the voracious appetite comes in.

The arrests occur against the backdrop of stalled negotiations between China's steelmakers, the world's biggest importers of iron ore, and the world's largest producers of iron ore: BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale and Rio Tinto.

A government-sanctioned Chinese steel industry group wants ore suppliers to cut prices from their previous one-year contract by 40 percent to 45 percent. That is a steeper reduction than the miners negotiated with other steelmakers, who settled this year.

China, which last year became the first country ever to produce 500 million metric tons of steel in a single year (five times U.S. production), has ample supplies of low-grade ore. But it must import the high-grade ore steelmakers value. Importers also supply other critical raw materials.

"The Chinese have been going all over the world looking to buy natural resources assets needed to fuel their industry," said Pittsburgh attorney and China watcher Dennis Unkovic.

In mid-July, Bloomberg estimated Chinese companies had made $26 billion in bids for Australian assets since the beginning of 2008. The estimate predated the $3 billion offer made last week by Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., the largest coal producer in eastern China, for Australian coal producer Felix Resources.

Shares of Melbourne coal miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. were halted on the Australian Stock Exchange last week after the company announced a pending financing deal. Speculation centers on a $1 billion injection from the China Investment Corp. China's Hunan Valin Iron & Steel Group already owns about 17 percent of Fortescue, Australia's third-largest iron ore producer. Fortescue also has an iron ore joint venture with China's Baosteel Group, the world's third-largest producer.

The Aluminum Co. of China, or Chinalco, wanted to make a $19.5 billion investment in Rio Tinto but was rebuffed in June when the miner linked up with BHP for an iron ore venture. BHP wanted to acquire Rio Tinto outright but canceled its bid in November as the economic crisis deepened. China opposed that hookup because of the leverage it would have given the iron ore giants in negotiations with Chinese steelmakers.

Conflicting news accounts out of China make it hard for even experts to predict what will happen to the arrested Rio Tinto employees or how the ore dispute will be resolved. Nevertheless, the developments are being monitored by those who do business with China or are thinking about it.

"Global investors are looking to see how the Chinese handle this," said Jeff Mindlin of the Pittsburgh-based Mindlin Fund, which invests in the stocks of commodities producers. "[The Chinese] are going to back off. It's just going to cost Rio some money at the end of the day."

Mr. Unkovic says there's good reason to keep tabs on the arrests and iron ore talks. He predicts the amount of money the Chinese will invest abroad will dwarf the $50 billion or so shopping spree the Japanese undertook in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A Florida bank whose majority owners are directors and shareholders of Johnstown-based 1st Summit Bank has been closed by federal regulators.

Community National Bank of Sarasota County was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Aug. 7. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the federal agency that insures bank deposits, was appointed receiver. It sold Community National's $93 million in deposits and most of its $97 million in assets to Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minn,, which reopened the branches the following day.

Community National's majority owners are Joseph R. and Allana M. Kondisko and William G. and Jeanne W. McKelvey. The couples also are investors in 1st Summit Bank, where Mr. Kondisko and Ms. McKelvey serve on the board of directors. Mr. McKelvey, other family members and related entities own nearly 11 percent of 1st Summit's shares, according to the bank's most recent annual report.

Mr. Kondisko is president of K Management Group, a Greensburg real estate management firm, while Mr. McKelvey is president of McKelvey Oil, a Johnstown company that provides heating oil and related products and services.

1st Summit President Elmer Laslo last month said there were no business relationships between the two banks.

Community National fell victim to problem loans related to Florida's collapsed real estate market. The Venice, Fla., bank posted a $9.2 million loss in the first half after losing $3.3 million last year. It was insolvent as of June 30, when it reported negative equity of $715,000.

The OCC ordered the Florida bank to tighten controls on loans and leases in March 2008. It imposed harsher terms in June after concluding Community National failed to remedy unsafe and unsound lending practices identified the previous year.