China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction said it would set up a joint venture to mine lead and zinc in Inner Mongolia with a total investment of up to 2.3 billion yuan.
The company will pay 998 million yuan in cash to take a 52.3 per cent stake in the venture, while the Chifeng city government of Inner Mongolia would contribute the rights and assets of Baiyinnuo'er lead and zinc mine for a 47.7 per cent stake.
The venture, which will have a registered capital of 1.908 billion yuan, plans to invest 1.5 billion yuan in building a smelter with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes of zinc and 500 million yuan to build a 100,000 tonne-per-year lead smelter using metal resources in the Baiyinnuo'er mine.
The venture may also invest 300 million yuan in building a 4,000-tonne per day ore selecting facility, depending on the resources and technical situation.
Baiyinnuo'er lead and zinc mine, which covers an area of 16.8 square kilometres near Chifeng, has a reserve of 1.07 million tonnes.
The mine produced 9,000 tonnes of lead concentrate and 27,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate last year.