China’s Zijin Mining to acquire Kazakh gold mine in US$1.2 billion deal

CHINA’S biggest gold and copper producer Zijin Mining said on Monday it had agreed to buy one of the largest gold mines of Kazakhstan, the Raygorodok Gold Mine, for US$1.2 billion.

Zijin said its unit Zijin Gold International and Jinha Mining, a subsidiary of Zijin Gold, had inked a deal to acquire the rights of RG Gold and RG Processing, the Kazakhstan-based gold mining firms that currently own and operate the Raygorodok gold mine.

The gold mine comprises the mine assets held by RGG and the processing plant assets held by RGP, Zijin said in a statement.

The timing of the deal aligns with a surge in global gold prices amid ongoing uncertainty around US-China trade tensions.

Earlier in April, Zijin laid out its intention to spin off its unit, Zijin Gold International, and list it in Hong Kong as part of a reorganisation of its overseas gold assets.