(Yicai Global) July 2 -- China's Zijin Mining Group expects to report a nearly tripled net profit in the first half from a year ago due to its increased output and hiked prices.

The mining company's net profit could stand between CNY6.2 billion (USD959 million) and CNY6.6 billion in the first six months of this year, or about as much as the firm made during the 12 months of 2020, the Fujian province-based enterprise said in a statement yesterday.

Global commodity prices have moved up during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first half, copper prices jumped by 18 percent and zinc prices climbed 6.6 percent, according to the Shanghai Futures Exchange. However, gold went against the trend as prices of the precious metal fell 5.6 percent.

New Projects

Zijin has kicked off two major projects this year. One of them is the first phase of the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zijin has a 45 percent stake in the project that should generate about 200,000 tons of copper per year.

The second one is Serbia's Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine, fully owned by the Chinese firm. The mine should eventually produce 91,000 tons of copper and 25,000 tons of gold every year.

The promising forecast didn't cause a stock price rally. Zijin’s Shanghai-listed shares [SHA: 601899] were 0.5 percent up at CNY9.84 (USD1.50) in the afternoon. Its Hong Kong-listed stock price [HKG: 2899] was 0.6 percent down at HKD10.38 (USD1.30).

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi