BEIJING - Gansu-based Baiyin Nonferrous Metals Corporation (BNMC), China's leading nonferrous metals producer, is planning a listing on the Shanghai stock exchange this year, in a bid to invest in overseas mining resources.

The company is preparing an IPO proposal, which is due to be submitted to the China Securities Regulatory Commission around June.

It has privately collected 3 billion yuan ($457 million) in capital from local mining companies in the Tibet autonomous region and Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in a pre-IPO share sale, Li Peixing, chairman of BNMC, told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meeting.

Li also disclosed that the company has signed agreements worth $400 to $500 million with two foreign companies, "one from Peru and the other from South Africa" on cooperative developments of copper, lead and zinc resources in those countries, and are waiting for approvals from the respective governments of those countries.

BNMC is the second-largest nonferrous metals producer in Gansu province. The company is also the fourth-largest lead and zinc producer and the seventh-largest copper producer nationally, with the total annual output volume of the three metals reaching 300,000 tons.

"We expect to strengthen our efforts in overseas expansion during the coming five years," said Li.

In 2010, the company's sales revenue was 15 billion yuan, and the figure is expected to rise to 60 billion yuan in 2015, Li said.

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He added that during the past year, BNMC has been in contact with companies from countries such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, on overseas mining development.

"We recently signed two deals in Peru and South Africa to jointly exploit the local copper, zinc and lead mines. We provide the capital and technology, and they own the mines," said Li.

China is the largest copper consumer in the world, and last year, the nation's imports of the metal rose by 44.4 percent from a year earlier to $32.7 billion. Experts have predicted that the nation's copper demand will further grow this year.

Gansu province, which has an abundance of nonferrous metals, will encourage its industrial companies to go overseas in the next five years, said Hao Yuan, vice-governor of the provincial government.

China's biggest nickel producer Jinchuan Group, which is also located in Gansu, agreed to acquire the Vancouver-based Continental Minerals Corp for C$432 million ($446 million) last year. It's the largest overseas project by a Gansu company, and recently gained approval from the Chinese government.