On February 3, state-owned Chinese company Metallurgical Corporation of China Limited (MCC), one of the world's biggest engineering contractors, announced that on January 29 in Beijing it signed an agreement to acquire a five percent stake in Australian coal miner Resourcehouse Mining Group at a cost of US$200 million.
MCC's investment will also allow it to undertake engineering, procurement and construction work on China First, a Resourcehouse coal mine project in Queensland, and receive a four percent commission from this subsidiary's annual sales of 30 million metric tons of coal.
The China First coal mine project, which has coal reserves of more than 1 billion mt, is being built with a total investment exceeding $7 billion, covering the construction of railways, port and other infrastructures.
In its statement to Shanghai Stock Exchange, MCC said that its investment plan is still subject to the approval of the governments of China and Australia and also needs to be approved by Resourcehouse's shareholders.