Top Biz News

New rules to make gold shinier industry

By Gong Zhengzheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-30 08:56

In a recent international mining forum in Beijing, Chen Fumin, chairman of the China Gold Association, said the nation will encourage foreign companies to invest more in low-grade gold ore exploitation. The association consists of more than 200 major gold miners, processors and marketers.

Gold production in China rose 8.05 per cent to 169.28 tons in the first three quarters of this year from a year earlier, according to statistics from the association.

The nation's 2006 gold production is anticipated to reach a new record of 240 tons, up from 224.05 tons last year.

The NDRC source predicted gold output in China would grow by 5 per cent annually on average in the next three years.

The source said they expect the policy to boost consolidation between domestic gold miners to form bigger companies.

The State expects China's top 10 gold miners will control a much bigger slice of total gold production by 2010.

There are more than 1,200 gold mines in China of which 739 are small, each with a daily mining capacity of less than 50 tons of gold ore.

Chen, also president of China National Gold Group Corp, the country's top gold producer, said big foreign investors will be welcomed to participate in the sector's reshuffling with advanced technologies and management know-how.

His company, which has a Shanghai-listed unit, has grabbed one-fifth of China's annual gold production through mergers and acquisitions of small miners in recent years.