China’s Zijin sees 2018 gold output at about 37 tonnes

TIANJIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) –

* Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd, one of China’s biggest gold miners, will produce around 37 tonnes of the precious metal in 2018, its chairman said on Thursday.

* The company’s gold output will be flat or a little lower than last year, Zijin Chairman Chen Jinghe told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Tianjin.

* Zijin is “paying attention” to Tanzania but “not yet negotiating”, he said, after Reuters reported earlier this year that it would set up a joint venture with Acacia Mining, a unit of Barrick Gold, to develop Tanzanian gold mines.

* Zijin, which last month agreed to acquire Canadian miner Nevsun Resources Ltd for C$1.86 billion, has already had some preliminary communication with Freeport McMoRan Inc over development of the Timok copper project in Serbia, Chen added.

* The lower zone of Timok is a joint venture between Nevsun and Freeport

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Sunil Nair)