China's leading gold miner's ambition (2)

"We sold gold at an average price of 263.89 Yuan RMB for each gram during the period while the average price in Shanghai Gold Exchange was 253.8 Yuan for each gram," Lu said with pride.

In order to make itself more competitive, Zhaojin has merged several gold mine companies in Gansu and Liaoning provinces and Xinjiang and Guangxi autonomous regions during the half-year period.

The moves, which cost Zhaojin over 500 million Yuan RMB, further strengthens Zhaojin's position in key gold mining regions in China, Lu said.

The leading Chinese miner also bought 2 percent stake in Citigold Corp in Australia for 2 million Australian dollars (about 1.79 million US dollars) in July, the first overseas investment by Zhaojin.

Lu told Xinhua that Zhaojin has also been looking for "proper gold miners" in Central Asia and one of the criteria is that the investment destination country has to be politically stable.

Lu noted that China has surpassed South Africa as the world biggest gold producer since 2007 and produces over 300 tons of gold annually.

"Zhaojin is quite confident that the gold production will see further growth in China. We can dig deeper as most of Chinese gold mines are still being excavated at about 500 meters below the ground while gold pits in South Africa are more than 4,000 meters deep," Lu said, adding that within five or six years from now, the company will be among the world top ten gold miners.


【1】 【2】