DUSHANBE, December 7, Asia-Plus -- On December 5, President Emomali Rahmon made a stopover in China’s Shensi province on his way from Tokyo to Dushanbe. 

Abdufattoh Sharifzoda, a spokesman for the Tajik president, said that in Shensi, President Rahmon had held short talks with administrators of the province and Xin Zijin He (phonetically spelled, President of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd, a Chinese leading gold and base metal producer.   

 In the course of the talks it was noted that Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd, which now assumes a packet of shares in Zeravshan Gold Company (ZGC), intends to invest more than $100 million in gold-mining in Tajikistan.

“According to Fusheng Lan, the deputy president of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd, the company’s leadership intends to invest more $100 million in mining of gold and other precious metals in Tajikistan over the next three years and increase gold production at the joint venture ZGC to seven tons per year,” the spokesman said.     

We will recall that in July of this year, ZGC had a significant change of ownership.  Avocet Mining, the UK-listed owner of 75% of ZGC (the Tajik government holds the remaining 25%) sold out its interest to Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd.  

The main product of ZGC is gold-silver Dore alloy, which is refining at affinage plant in Tajikistan with producing of chemically pure gold and silver (99.99 and 99.95 alloys respectively).  

Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code of 2899. In 2005, its gold production ranked 20th among global gold producers with a yield of 20.96 tons (according to website www.goldsheetlinks.com/ptable.htm ). Since December 20th 2005, Zijin Mining has been included in the FTSE mine index. On March 20 ^th 2006, Zijin entered into the Dow Jones Offshore 50 Index. 

The group is principally engaged in the exploration of gold, copper and the other non-ferrous metals. Zijinshan Gold Mine, the core enterprise of Zijin Group, has been developed into a single metal mine with largest usable gold reserves.  The Gold Refinery of the Group is one of the first qualified gold refineries recognized by the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and is included in the Gold Delivery List of the London Bullion Metal Association (LBMA), demonstrating its capability of producing standard gold bullions and bars. The gold is entitled to use the logo of “the product implementing international standard”.