2011-03-24 10:04

HONG KONG - Hong Kong- and Toronto-listed gold producer China Gold International Resources Corp Ltd plans to boost production of copper and to acquire gold and copper mines outside China, the company's executive vice-president said.

China Gold International, 42 percent owned by State-owned gold mining major China Gold Corp, aimed to acquire gold and copper-gold mines in neighboring countries of China, including Russia and Mongolia, Jerry Xie told Reuters on the sidelines of the Mines and Money Conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

"We are in talks with five to six targets," Xie said, without identifying them.

China Gold International operates a gold mine in the northeastern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia and a copper and gold mine in the western region of Tibet.

Xie said the company wanted to maintain steady production at the Inner Mongolia mine and that output would rise to 145,000 ounces this year, from 115,000 ounces in 2010.

Production costs at the mine were about $573 per ounce, about 40 percent of the global spot gold price, although costs were expected to fall in two years, Xie said.

He added that the mine, an open pit operation in its third year of production, had an expected production life of 13 years.

Spot gold was steady at about $1,427 per ounce at 0630 GMT on Wednesday, within striking distance of its record $1,444.40 per ounce set on March 7.

China Gold International would complete a new phase to boost production at its Tibet copper-gold mine, Xie said, with details to be finalized next month.

The Tibet mine started production in September 2010 and was expected to produce 11,400 tons of copper and 3,000 ounces of gold this year, Xie said.