(Yicai) June 19 -- Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining Group said it has begun issuing convertible bonds worth USD2 billion and allocated USD500 million of its Hong Kong stock to overseas investors to mainly replace its high-interest US dollar-denominated liabilities.

Zijin Mining [SHA: 601899] rose 2.3 percent to CNY17.30 (USD2.38) a share as of 1.45 p.m. in Shanghai today, while its Hong Kong-traded stock [HKG: 2899] jumped 2.6 percent to HKD16.30 (USD2.09).

Zijin Mining's convertible bonds and placement of shares achieved multiplied oversubscriptions, the Longyan-based firm announced yesterday. Most buyers are globally renowned managers of long-term and hedge funds, it added.

The initial conversion price of the convertible bonds was HKD19.84 per Hong Kong-traded share, a premium of about 22 percent of Zijin Mining's closing price on June 17 and around 20 percent of its average closing price over the previous five trading days.

The proceeds from the issuance of convertible bonds will be used to replace the high-interest US dollar-denominated liabilities, saving CNY1 billion (USD137.8 million) a year in financial expenditure, Zijin Mining noted.

The pricing for the share placement reaches HKD15.50 per share, according to an agreement Zijin Mining inked yesterday. The proceeds will go for business operations and development in overseas markets, including mergers and acquisitions, working capital, and general corporate needs, the company said.

Zijin Mining is a major multinational miner focused on exploring copper, gold, zinc, lithium, and many other metallic mineral resources, as well as related development, engineering designs, research, and application of technologies worldwide.

Its copper output from ores exceeded 1 million tons last year, making it the only miner in Asia to reach this threshold and ranking it among the global top five. Its gold resources and corresponding production capacity also ranked it first among Asian miners and within the top 10 worldwide.

Zijin Mining's net profit rose 5.4 percent to about CNY21.1 billion (USD2.91 billion) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, while its revenue jumped 8.5 percent to around CNY293.4 billion (USD40.4 billion).

Editor: Martin Kadiev