China Molybdenum looks for more overseas mining acquisitions
Source: www.chinamining.org Citation: Bloomberg Date: August 20, 2014
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| Li Chaochun, chairman of China Molybdenum. |
China Molybdenum, the mainland`s biggest producer of the metal, is seeking more acquisitions after the success of its US$820 million purchase of a Rio Tinto Group copper mine in Australia.
"We`ll prefer mining assets in developed countries or regions with stable political conditions," said Li Chaochun, the chairman of the company, which is based in Luoyang, Henan province. "We are bullish on copper over the long run. It is one of our investment priorities. We`re also studying other metals."
Buying the Northparkes mine, its first overseas copper acquisition, helped the mainland producer diversify into precious and base metals, as it seeks to become a global mining company.
China Molybdenum, which started a team looking for overseas assets in 2008, last week reported a 66 per cent jump in first- half profit as Northparkes added to production.
"Diversification will help the company achieve stable growth by avoiding price risks on a single metal," said Wang Min, a rare-metal analyst with Beijing Antaike Information Development.
Shares in China Molybdenum have climbed 59 per cent this year, outstripping the 7.1 per cent increase in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The stock closed 0.72 per cent lower at HK$5.48 yesterday.
Molybdenum is mainly used to make speciality steel tougher and resistant to rust. Demand for that application might continue to expand at the 10 per cent growth rate of the first half as the mainland sought to shift its production mix to more valuable steel grades, Li said.
"Higher speciality steel grades require more molybdenum," he said. "China`s increasing demand for high-strength alloys, used from offshore drilling platforms to oil pipelines, and molybdenum chemicals used in refining catalysts, will push up the metal consumption over the long run."
While molybdenum mines were opening up, smaller and inefficient mines were set to be closed, restraining the supply increase together with government measures to raise environmental standards against processors, Li said.
China might gradually remove its export quotas on tungsten and molybdenum by the middle of next year, Li said, after a World Trade Organisation panel determined in March that the country did not adequately justify its restrictions.
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