Chinese state-owned metal trader China Minmetals Corp. on Tuesday posted profits of 6.8 billion yuan (932 million US dollars) in 2007, believed to be about double those of the previous year.

The company posted no profit figures for 2006, but a report by the Economic Daily published in February last year said the company had registered annual profits of more than three billion yuan (411 million US dollars) for two consecutive years.

The company said its revenues reached 21.8 billion US dollars in 2007 compared with 18.9 billion US dollars in 2006.

The company has iron ore reserves of 604 million tons, coking coal reserves of 250 million tons and tungsten reserves of 410,000 tons. It trades about 11 million tons of steel products, 4.1 million tons of coal, 800,000 tons of coke, 145,000 tons of electrolytic copper and 700,000 tons of alumina every year, it said in a statement.

The company said in an effort to consolidate its status of China's top steel trader, it had invested in the Nihe Iron Ore Mine in Anhui Province with proven magnetic iron ore reserves of 100 million tons and iron sulphate reserves of 30 million tons.

In a move to expand nonferrous metal businesses last month, the company joined forces with Jiangxi Copper, the country's largest copper refiner, to acquire Canadian miner Northern Peru for 445 million U.S. dollars.

The company has two listed subsidiaries: Minmetals Resources listed in Hong Kong and Minmetals Development Co. Ltd. listed in Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)