Congo frees most of Chinese men held for illegal mining
The Chinese miners allegedly owed $10 million in unpaid taxes and fines to the government.
Reuters reports Chinalco Mining Corp International, a division of the giant state-owned Aluminum Corp of China, “will seek approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange on May 17″ for a separate listing.
Chinalco Mining is active in Peru and last year Minera Chinalco Peru SA’s investments in its $2.2 billion Toromocho copper project totalled $750 million. Toromocho is planned to go into production by Q3 of 2013.
The IPO could raise up to $1 billion.
Another of China’s state owned resource companies China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corp is priming a listing of its Zambian copper operations that could raise $500 million in Hong Kong.
The miner is also on an aggressive expansion drive in the southern African country and “by the end of 2013, CNMC’s total investment in Zambia will surpass $2.5 billion, providing more than 20,000 jobs,” according Zambia’s Post Online.
However Human Rights Watch last month told prospective investors in CNMC that they should be aware of the company’s “disturbing labor rights practices in Zambia,” and poor safety record.
