TIANJIN, China Sept 24 (Reuters) – As far as China’s miners are concerned, the modern-day Silk Road is paved with gold. Buoyed by a 15 percent rise in the gold price this year, Chinese mining executives in Tianjin this weekend were talking up their ambitions for overseas expansion.
In doing so they embraced Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, now being promulgated around the world as the Belt and Road Initiative, the geographical scope of which has not been precisely defined.
Song Xin, CEO of China National Gold Group Corp, told a session of the China Mining conference on Saturday that his company would “intensify exploration and capital allocation in Belt and Road countries”, which he said account for 80 percent of global gold consumption.
China National Gold has mandated its Canada-based subsidiary China Gold International Resources Corp, with making overseas acquisitions.
On China’s doorstep, in Mongolia and Central Asia, the company could deploy its proprietary technology for hard-to-extract reserves, Song said, calling on other Belt and Road countries to “enjoy the benefits” of mineral wealth together.
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