China Citic pays 3.26 b yuan to buy metal firm stake

Chinese state-owned Citic Group and its subsidiary paid 3.26 billion yuan ($477.3 million) to buy a 49 percent stake in metals smelter Baiyin Nonferrous Metals from the provincial government of Gansu, a senior executive at Baiyin said on Tuesday.

Baiyin planned to use the funds to buy mines in northern China but had not identified any targets, the executive said.

"We have not discussed how to use the funds yet," the executive at Baiyin's headquarters in the northwestern province told Reuters.

The Gansu government, which still holds a 51 percent stake in Baiyin, picked Citic as a buyer in late July after rejecting a few large state-owned companies, including China Minmetals Corp and the parent of Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) (2600.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(601600.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the same executive told Reuters on Aug 1.

Citic controls CITIC Resources Holdings (1205.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which invests in energy and resources.

The acquisition put the value of Baiyin's assets at 6.66 billion yuan.

Baiyin has annual smelting capacity of 80,000 tonnes of copper, 170,000 tonnes of zinc and 30,000 tonnes of lead. It has a joint venture with Chalco with 160,000 tonnes of aluminium smelting capacity and is adding 70,000 tonnes of capacity next year.

It has three copper mines and two lead and zinc mines in China.

In September, Baiyin produced 7,645 tonnes of refined copper, 9,678 tonne of refined zinc and 1,201 tonnes of refined lead, according to a report posted on its website.(www.bynmc.com)

It mined 598 tonnes of copper in concentrate, 6,022 tonnes of zinc in concentrate and 1,463 tonnes of lead in concentrate in September.

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