Chinese expansion backed by institution's hefty funding

China Development Bank's branch in Hebei province has helped Chinese companies expand abroad by supporting large projects in recent years.

The bank provided $878 million in loans to the Toromocho copper mine project, led by the Aluminum Corporation of China, in Peru by the end of last year.

CDB's Hebei branch cooperated with the bank's headquarters in Beijing to finance the construction of the mine's support facilities and help solve the mine's water, power, and port transportation issues.

The project began operations in December 2013 and has an annual copper concentrate output of 220,000 metric tons, accounting for about 12.4 percent of China's yearly copper demand.

The Hebei branch supported the Las Bambas copper mine project in Peru, which is China's biggest overseas mergers and acquisitions project in the metal mining industry. CDB and other banks extended a line of $6.96 billion in credit to support the acquisition of the project and the construction of the mine.

The Las Bambas project plans to produce 320,000 tons of copper concentrate annually, accounting for about 18 percent of China's yearly copper need.

CDB vowed loans of $6.27 billion and provided $4.89 billion to 20 mining and financial projects in Peru by the end of last year, important contributions to promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and Peru.

The two nations built a comprehensive partnership in 2005. Peru is one of China's most important partners in South America. Bilateral trade volume reached $22.84 billion by the end of 2014. China is Peru's biggest trade partner.

Peru, which is approximately 1.29 million square kilometers in size and has a population of 30.47 million, has abundant mineral resources. It ranks 12th in the amount of mineral reserves in the world.

The country tops the world in bismuth and vanadium reserves and is the third-biggest country in terms of copper reserves. It ranks fourth for silver and zinc reserves and has an abundance of other mineral resources including iron, gold, tungsten and coal.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/11/2016 page7)