China Zijin invests in Xanadu to ink copper-gold resources in Mongolia

Xanadu Mines

20/04/2022 03:59

April 20 (Reuters) - Chinese miner Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd
 601899.SS  2899.HK  said on Wednesday that it would buy stake
in Xanadu Mines Ltd  XAM.AX  with an eye toward obtaining its
copper and gold resources in Mongolia. 
    In a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Zijin said it
signed an agreement with Xanadu Mines to acquire a 19.9% stake
in the company at A$0.04 ($0.0296) per share, and 50% stake in
Xanadu's subsidiary Khuiten Metals Pte Ltd for $35 million.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2WI052
    Eventually, Zijin aims to take a 45.9% stake in Mongolia's
Kharmagtai copper and gold mine through Khuiten Metals' 76.5%
stake in the mine, the company said. 
    The Kharmagtai mine is estimated to hold 2.93 million tonnes
of copper and 7.8 million ounces, or 243 tonnes of gold,
according to Xanadu's 2021 annual report. 
    "The company thinks the project has a large amount of
resources and total investment is low," Zijin said in the
filing, noting that its expertise in developing low-grade
resources will facilitate the investment. 
    Zijin currently runs overseas copper projects in Serbia and
Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has gold mines in Colombia,
Australia, Papua New Guinea and others. 
    The company's first-quarter net profit surged 144% from same
period a year earlier to 6.1 billion yuan ($952.68 million),
after posting a record annual profit for 2021.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2VL30D
        
($1 = 1.3503 Australian dollars)

($1 = 6.4030 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Meg Shen in Hong Kong;
Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
 ((min.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; (8610) 5669-2105;))