SHANGHAI, Mar. 17 -- Xiong Weiping, General Manager of Aluminum Corp. of China (CHALCO), said in an interview that CHALCO will continue to explore overseas resources, and the collapse of a USD 19.5 billion tie-up between Chinalco and Rio Tinto last June did not depress the company’s confidence in overseas expansion.

He said CHALCO is negotiating with many potential cooperators including Rio Tinto in the hope of participating the development of Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine project in Mongolia, and Ivanhoe Energy Limited, the partner of Rio Tinto, is responsible for the development of this project.

CHALCO owns a copper mine project in Peru, with the construction expected to begin in May or June, and with annual capacity expected to reach 1 million mt of copper concentrate after coming online in 2012. 

(Edited by SMM)