The China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co (CNMC) hopes to see at least 2 billion yuan ($307.9 million) in profits and 100 billion yuan in sales this year, according to the head of the company.

CNMC will soon begin to work on a rare-earth separation plant in the city of Shaoguan, Guangdong province, which is expected to go into operation in 2013, the company's General Manager Luo Tao told a press conference last Thursday.

"This is the only rare-earth separation plant that NDRC has approved in recent years," Luo went on to explain.

The State-owned mining company plans to spend 400 million yuan on the plant, which has the job of producing 7,000 tons of rare earth per year.

Luo said he is not exactly optimistic about the current state of affairs in the rare earth industry, in view of the fact that rare earth's price has skyrocketed to 10 times that of last year.

He called this "exceedingly irrational" and said the speculation and overstated price will do no good to the industry.

Rare earth comprises 17 chemically similar elements, with diverse uses in everything, from high-powered magnets to fuel refining to energy-efficient light bulbs to mobile phone screens and batteries.

Overseas presence

Luo added that two of his company's overseas investments - a copper mine in Zambia and a nickel mine in Myanmar - will begin production later this year.

The Tagaung Taung mining project in Myanmar, at a cost of more than $800 million for the mining and smelting, is expected to produce 85,000 tons of ferronickel and 22,000 tons of pure nickel annually, after it goes into operation.

The project is a joint development of CNMC and TISCO, a unit of Taigang Stainless Steel, China's largest stainless steel producer, which itself consumes about 100,000 tons of nickel a year.

Nickel is the most important raw material for stainless steel and accounts for over 70 percent of stainless steel's total production costs.

The company also plans to put $600 million into Zambia, its largest overseas investment destination, by the end of this year. It will put $340 million into the Mulyashi copper mine, which will produce 43,000 tons of copper annually, after it goes into production later this year.

The nonferrous metal giant is also planning more overseas mergers and acquisitions to increase its mineral wealth.

Its listed unit, China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction (NFC), is also boosting its presence in mineral-rich nations like Canada and Australia.

This it is doing by buying a stake to give it greater bargaining power in the global arena, explained NFC general manager, Wang Hongqian, earlier this year.

China Nonferrous owns copper, nickel, zinc, gold and bauxite mines here in China and in other countries as well, including Zambia, Australia and Kyrgyzstan. But its smelting and refining capacity for raw ore is smaller than its mining ability.

CNMC took the China-Africa Friendship Award last year, which was part of the Top 10 Chinese Enterprises in Africa awards for companies "contributing to the economic and social development of African countries, fulfilling their social responsibility, and helping to improve the living standards of the African people".

The award winners were expected to contribute to a 5-million-yuan "China Enterprise Charity Fund for Africa". The fund's and the charity's purpose is to "enhance the brand influence of the winning companies and increase the friendly bonds with local African people".

China Daily

(China Daily 05/10/2011 page15)