Another major Chinese acquisition could have been African Barrick Gold, Tanzania’s largest gold mining concern, had talks between China National Gold Corporation and Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation over a $3.9 billion deal not collapsed in January.
By Andrew Moody
Peoples Daily Online
Chinese investment in African mining industry comes in different forms and is crucial for both.
The relative slowdown in China’s economy was one of a number of factors casting a shadow over the recent Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town. The mining sector in South Africa has other problems closer to home, including labor unrest and the threat of increasing government regulation.
But the demand for resources from the world’s second-largest economy — as for the rest of the continent — remains an important lifeline for the mining industry.
The sector has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange remains highly sensitive to economic data coming from China.
Last year was particularly bad for the iron ore industry, with prices slumping to a three-year low in September to $88 a ton on fears about China’s recovery.