China’s largest gold miner, Zijin, is expanding into ‘streaming’ of precious metals in a bid to secure more bullion supply at a time of skyrocketing prices.
Streaming is a type of mine financing in which an investor makes a payment to a mine in return for a share of future production. The managing director of Zijin’s investment subsidiary said its new streaming fund — the first from a Chinese mining company — is looking to do deals in Africa and South America, and wants to deploy between $200mn and $400mn this year.
“We’re trying to find quality resources that are undervalued,” said Lisa Liu, managing director of Gold Mountains Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Zijin. “We are really bullish on gold prices,” she added.