Shandong Gold seeks overseas expansion

Shandong Gold Group Co Ltd, one of China's leading gold producers, is seeking to expand its overseas business as it aims to become one of the top 10 gold miners in the world.

The Shandong-based company is targeting assets in countries that have stable social conditions, good gold reserves and open markets, according to a company executive.

"Our main focus will be countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative," said Li Guohong, general manager of the company.

"By 2020, we will be able to produce more than 55 metric tons of gold each year, with annual revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan ($15.1 billion)," Li said at a forum for top 100 listed Chinese companies held on Saturday in Beijing.

According to Li, who is also the chairman of Shandong Gold Mining Co Ltd, the listed subsidiary of Shandong Gold, the Shanghai-listed company is making preparations for its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, though he would not reveal the exact time.

In April, the gold miner reached an agreement with Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp, the world's biggest producer of the precious metal, to acquire a 50 percent stake in Barrick's Veladero gold mine in Argentina for $960 million.

The deal will also see the two companies jointly develop the El Indio Gold Belt on the border of Argentina and Chile, which hosts a cluster of world-class gold mines and projects including Veladero, Pascua-Lama and Alturas.

By this month, two of the company's gold mines, Jiaojia gold mine and Linglong gold mine in Shandong province, have accumulatively produced 100 tons of gold, setting a record in China.

The gold miner currently owns 228 patents, including 51 patents of invention. It also boosts advanced technology in seabed mining and its gold-prospecting drill has set a record of reaching more than 4,000 meters deep.

Earlier this year, the state-of-the-art mining facility has helped the company to discover the Xiling gold mine area in the Laizhou-Zhaoyuan region, Shandong province.

Estimated at more than 550 tons of gold reserves and with a potential economic value of 150 billion yuan, it is believed to be China's largest gold deposit in history.