Daye To Invest CNY2 Bln In Nonferrous Metals Exploration -Report

SHANGHAI, Jun 22, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- China's Daye Nonferrous Metals Co. has signed a cooperation framework agreement with the local government of Xianning in Hubei province to invest CNY2 billion ($294.2 million) in the city over the next five years on nonferrous metals exploration and processing, the Hubei Daily reported Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Xianning will grant Daye Nonferrous exploration rights for its copper, gold, silver, tungsten, antimony and molybdenum resources, helping the company reach an annual capacity of more than 100,000 metric tons of copper products and three tons of gold, the report cited an unnamed source from Daye as saying.

Meanwhile, the country's fifth largest copper smelter by output has started operation of its Lvshan copper mine, with an expected capacity of 8,000 tons a year, the China Nonferrous Metals Network reported late Monday.

Daye has an annual copper output of 250,000 tons.