New Wisdom Investment Limited

Silk Road Fund Keen on Glencore Mine

(Jul 7, 2016)

China's Silk Road Fund is said to be considering the acquisition of Glencore's Vasilkovskoye gold mine in Kazakhstan.

The US$40 billion fund was setup in 2014 to support investments in the regions covered by the 'New Silk Road' initiative, a route connecting China to Western Europe.

According to Bloomberg, which reported the news, state-owned China National Gold Group is being considered as a joint venture partner for the $2 billion acquisition.

Chinese gold producers Shandong Gold Mining and Zijin Mining are said to also be interested in buying the asset.

Reports first surfaced in May that Glencore was considering selling the asset, which sits within its 70%-owned Kazzinc subsidiary.

In April, Kazzinc sold the Komarovskoye gold deposit to Polymetal for $100 million. Polymetal has already said it would not participate in the Vasilovskoye sales process given the price tag suggested.

Glencore has been executing plans to lower its debt position by selling assets, scrapping its dividend and completing a rights issue. It is targeting a net debt level of $17-18 billion by the end of this year from some $30 billion halfway through 2015.


Mining Journal