China's business press carried the following stories on Friday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Chinalco, Rio in talks over joint investment in Mongolia -- 21st Century Business Herald

Chinalco, China's largest aluminum producer, is now discussing with Rio Tinto about jointly investing in Mongolia, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Friday, citing people close to the matter.

Australian newspaper The Age said Thursday that Rio Tinto is in talks with Chinalco over Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project.

Oyu Tolgoi, located only 80 kilometers from the China-Mongolia border, is one of the largest unexploited copper and gold mines. Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines, of which Rio Tinto holds 19.7 percent of the stake, owns a 66-percent-stake in Oyu Tolgoi.

According to the agreement between Ivanhoe Mines and the Mongolian government, Oyu Tolgoi will receive an investment of US$4.5 billion and is expected to start production before the end of 2013. In the first 10 years of production, Oyu Tolgoi is predicted to produce 450,000 tons of copper and 14.18 tons of gold annually.

"Chinalco has been keeping an eye on the development of the Oyu Tolgoi project," a source told the 21st Century Business Herald, adding that Chinalco and Rio Tinto will discuss possible co-operations on infrastructure construction, financing and marketing of the project.

Bank of Ningbo reports net profit of 397 mln yuan in Q3 -- National Business Daily

Bank of Ningbo announced Thursday that its net profit was 397 million yuan in the third quarter, up 0.02 percent year-on-year.

According to the bank's Q3 report, its total asset reached 144.47 billion yuan by the end of September, increasing 39.9 percent compared to the end of 2008. The bank achieved a total of 1.1 billion yuan of net profit in the first three quarters of this year, down 2.08 percent year-on-year.

Oil price hike: later but larger -- Beijing Business Today

According to the oil pricing policy announced last December, China adjusts its domestic oil prices when oil costs change more than 4 percent over 22 straight working days. However, there was no oil price hike announcement from the Chinese government on Thursday, a time window for an adjustment.

Industry insiders think that if the government waits until November to hike domestic oil prices, the price could be increased by 100 yuan per ton more than the market now expects.

Crude oil analyst Liao Kiashun predicts that the prices of diesel oil and gasoline could be increased by 0.25 and 0.22 yuan per liter, respectively, in November.

SASAC: 80% of SOE assets are listed -- Securities Daily

The total assets of China's state-owned enterprises were close to 1.8 billion yuan by the end of 2008, with 80 percent of these assets already listed, said Li Rongrong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

Li also noted that a lot of Chinese companies are still unqualified to conduct overseas mergers and acquisitions. He also pointed out that there are only a few state-owned enterprises that are capable of investing in overseas companies.

Comments