(CRI English)
Updated: 2008-01-29 13:01

China Minmetals announced on Tuesday that it has successfully bought a majority stake in Northern Peru Copper (NPC) of Canada, and so acquired the property of EL Galeno copper and gold mine and Hilorico gold mine in northern Peru.

The announcement said the acquisition has met with a positive response from the majority of NPC's shareholders and has been approved by the Chinese government.

The acquisition has been conducted by Copper Bridge Acquisition Corp (CBAC), jointly established by the China Minmetals and Jiangxi Copper Corporation. A total of 31,761,682 shares, or 93.92 percent of NPC's total stakes, has been transferred to the buyer's account, according to the announcement.

CBAC will pay 436.7 million Canadian dollars on January 28 for the purchase, and according to the Canadian law, the remaining part of the purchase will be completed within two months through compulsory buying.

The latest materials available show that NPC's total resources volume includes 8.05 million tons of copper and 198 tons of gold. The development of the Galeno project needs an investment of some US$1.5 billion and is expected to be operational in 2012.