China’s biggest gold and copper producer Zijin Mining Group expects first-half net profit to have jumped by as much as 50%, the company said in a trading statement on Monday.
First-half net profit could reach up to 15.5 billion yuan ($2.13 billion), up 50% year on year, Zijin’s statement said, citing higher output.
Gold output was expected to increase by 9.6% to 35.4 metric tons, with copper up 5.3% at 518,000 tons and silver up 1.3% at 210.3 tons.
Global prices of gold and silver rallied sharply in the first half of this year as investors rushed to buy safe-heaven assets amid geopolitical tensions. Copper also hit record highs in May on speculative buying.
($1 = 7.2695 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(By Siyi Liu and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by David Goodman)