Cheung Kong (Holdings) chairman Li Ka-shing has taken a 17 per cent stake in a soon-to-be-listed African gold mining group run by Algy Cluff, a well-known British mining entrepreneur, who has had close links with Mr Li for several years.
The move, which comes as the price of gold has seen a sharp rise in the past month, is understood to be a personal interest, separate from Mr Li's main operating companies Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong (Holdings).
The investment is estimated to be worth about US$5 million from his personal fortune.
The new company, known as Cluff Mining, is to be listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange on December 9, with an estimated value of $30 million.
It boasts a welter of exploration interests in exotic locations such as Burkina Faso and the Congo, but its main performing assets are set to be three gold deposits in South Africa, of which one is currently producing, and the other two are expected to be in production over the next nine months.
A deposit in Zimbabwe has also been discovered.
