Gold producer sales surge in H1

A clown performs for a gold products promotion in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, Aug 4. 2012. [Photo by Sun Xinming/Asianewsphoto]

BEIJING - China National Gold Group Corp. (CNGGC) said Monday that its first-half sales surged 61.44 percent year on year to 49.45 billion yuan ($7.85 billion), fulfilling 61.8 percent of its annual target.

The Beijing-based company said its first-half profits met 53.26 percent of the target for this year, without disclosing exact figures.

Sales are expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2012, Sun Zhaoxue, general manager of CNGGC, said at the company's meeting.

The gold producer added 87 tonnes of gold and 200,000 tonnes of copper to its reserves in the first half.

At the end of June, the company's reserves of gold, copper and molybdenum reached 1,565 tonnes, 10.2 million tonnes and 2.01 million tonnes, respectively.

The company remains the country's largest gold producer in terms of gold reserves, output and market share of gold investment products, Sun said.