Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), which just aborted the Aurukun bauxite development deal with Australia, continues to expand its overseas businesses.

Chalco suspended its shares on A-share and H-share markets on Wednesday. It's expected to sign a deal on mine exploration Thursday, and the details are now under discussion, a top manager from the company told China Business News.

At present, there are three mining projects related with Chalco: the bauxite development project in Australia, the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia, and Simandou, a rich iron-ore project in Guinea. According to the analysis from insiders, Thursday's agreement would involve the third project.

Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian miner, announced in March that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Chalco on jointly developing the Simandou iron-ore project. Heng Kun, an analyst from Essence Securities, released that the two companies may reach official agreement regarding this project on Thursday.

Simandou has among the largest untapped iron ore deposits in the world, with some 2.25 billion tons of ore.

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