Bloomberg citing Mr Wei Jianghong Chairman of Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., China’s second-biggest copper smelter by output said the company is exploring for minerals in Australia, Canada and South America as it waits for opportunities to acquire assets.

Mr Wei said in an interview in Beijing while attending the National People’s Congress that “Commodity prices have been at very high levels these past few years, and we think we can wait for prices to come down further in the next year or two. Then we think there will be good opportunities for acquisitions.”

Chinese companies have agreed to acquire USD 22 billion of commodity assets in the past month, seeking to benefit from seven-year low prices to secure copper, iron ore and zinc mines. The slump has forced indebted Rio Tinto Group and OZ Minerals Ltd. to seek Chinese investment as funds from banks dry up.

Mr Wei said Tongling, which posted a 38% profit drop last year, plans to maintain 2009 copper production at last year’s level. Still, the company will slash output should prices fall below output costs. He said that production will also depend on the availability of raw materials and the profitability of selling the byproduct sulfuric acid. He added that Copper futures in Shanghai rose 2.3% to CNY 29,900 per tonne. Prices may average below CNY 30,000 for the year.

The Chinese government is spending CNY 4 trillion on a stimulus package to bolster sagging economic growth, raising expectations that metals demand will rise as it builds more infrastructure projects including railways and airports.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)