Zhaojin Mining to acquire gold deposits in Shandong
Shanghai. December 3. INTERFAX-CHINA - Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. Ltd. announced on Dec. 2 that it plans to fully acquire Canzhuang Gold Mine, a Shandong Province-based mining enterprise, from the local branch of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) for RMB 426.61 million ($62.49million).
According to the announcement, Canzhuang Gold Mine currently holds the mining rights to four gold deposits covering an area of 3.17 square kilometers around Zhaoyuan City, Shandong. It also owns exploration rights for 12 gold deposits covering an area of 71.92 square kilometers. The company's current daily ore processing capacity stands at 1,400 tons. It produced 605 kilograms of gold in 2008 and 326 kilograms in the first half of 2009.
Zhaojin Mining currently has gold resources amounting to 227 tons and the deal is expected to increase that figure by more than 20 tons.
"We expect to complete the deal before Chinese New Year," Liu Yongsheng, deputy secretary of the party committee of Shandong Zhaojin Group Co. Ltd., the parent company of Zhaojin Mining, told Interfax at a conference in Shanghai.
Liu also said the group plans to list certain non-gold assets, including those in the nonferrous smelting sector, on a domestic stock exchange in the next few years. Currently, all of the group's gold assets are held by Zhaojin Mining.
-XH/LCL