Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer, may raise as much as 10 billion yuan (US$1.43 billion) in a Shanghai initial public offering to fund acquisitions and projects.

Zijin will sell 1.4 billion new shares at between 6.88 yuan and 7.13 yuan each, the Fujian Province-based company said yesterday in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Its Hong Kong-traded stock closed yesterday at HK$7.48 (96 US cents).

The sale may be a test of investor appetite for listings after the benchmark index in China declined 40 percent since its October 16 peak, Bloomberg News said. Zijin's Hong Kong-traded stock is down 38 percent this year after rising almost threefold in 2007 as bullion climbed to a record.

Chairman Chen Jinghe said on March 10 that the miner may buy mines overseas this year. The gold producer last year agreed to buy a 20-percent stake in a Philippine gold project, and a controlling stake in Tajikistan's biggest producer of the precious metal.

Bullion rose to a record US$1,032.70 an ounce on March 17 as a weak US dollar and falling global stocks led investors to buy other assets.

(Shanghai Daily April 15, 2008)