(Yicai Global) Oct. 21 -- Shares of China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction, also known as NFC, soared after the leading engineering contractor said it had signed a USD2.3 billion deal to build a copper processing plant in Kazakhstan for a mining project controlled by Kazakhstan’s Kaz Minerals.

NFC [SHE: 000758] ended up 4 percent at CNY4.65 (64 US cents) today, after surging by the daily limit of 10 percent when trading resumed in the afternoon.

Kazakh firm Trianon has hired NFC to build a plant with an annual processing capacity of 70 million tons for the Baimskaya copper project and take charge of civil works, equipment installation, and supporting infrastructure works, the Beijing-based firm said at noon today.

Funded by the project owner, construction will begin in December 2023, with the facility expected to open six years and five months later, NFC noted, without adding any further details.

The Baimskaya copper mine has 9.5 million tons of copper and 16.5 million ounces (468 metric tons) of gold, with investment in the copper project expected to reach USD8.5 billion, according to data from China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Trianon is registered in Astana, Kazakhstan’s financial hub. Its controlling shareholder Kaz Minerals owns the Baimskaya copper project and other mines in the area of the Commonwealth of Independent States, an intergovernmental organization in eastern Europe and Asia.

Editor: Futura Costaglione