China's top zinc producer, Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corp Ltd, plans to spend 1.2 billion yuan ($176 million) to build up metal reserves at its smelters as prices slump, the regional paper Hunan Daily reported.

Hunan Nonferrous plans to ask banks for a loan to buy lead, zinc, tungsten, antimony and indium from its smelters, and will sell down the stockpiles when their prices recover, the newspaper said in a report carried on the website of the Xinhua News Agency.