Chinese companies square up in Glencore Xstrata mine sale
Two rival Chinese miners, Chinalco and Minmetals, have made it onto a shortlist to buy Glencore Xstrata's $5.9bn (£3.7bn) Peruvian copper mine, Las Bambas, say Reuters' sources.
The mines are two of four Chinese groups who made initial bids for the mine, and lead a series of interested groups.
Las Bambas is being sold by Glencore in order to meet Chinese competition regulation following its record-breaking takeover of mining group Xstrata – a $44.6bn (£27.9bn) acquitisition. The Chinese regulator feared that the tie-up handed the newly-amalgamated commodities giant too much power in copper, which has proved one of the most resilient metals, despite dwindling commodity prices.
It's estimated that Las Bambas, which has an estimated worth of about $6.2bn (£4.7bn), will cost $5.9bn (£3.7bn) to develop. 43 per cent of the project is, however, already completed. Initial production at the mine is due to start in 2015.