China’s Zijin Mining Group, Canadian investment company Sprott Inc., and Americas Now Resources Investment Management Corp. (a company incorporated in Toronto) have entered into a joint venture agreement to establish an offshore (from China) investment fund that will be co-managed by Zijin and Sprott. The fund will primarily invest in equities and debt instruments in relation to gold and other precious metals, copper and other minerals.
The target size of the fund is $500 million. Pursuant to the joint venture agreement, Zijin agreed to make initial capital contributions to the fund of $100 million. Sprott agreed to make initial capital contributions of $10 million and to continue to invest to match at least 5% of the aggregate capital contributions of the fund. The fund will also seek other investors.
Under the joint venture agreement, Americas Now agreed to provide technical and marketing services to the joint venture.
The agreement is conditional on Sprott receiving regulatory approvals in Canada and Zijin receiving regulatory approvals in the People’s Republic of China.
Zijin Mining Group is a large-scale, state-owned mining group with headquarters in Shanghang county, Fujian province, China. It is China’s largest gold producer, second largest copper producer, and an important producer of zinc, tungsten and iron ore.
