Interfax China reported that Jinchuan Group, China's largest nickel producer, is preparing to carry out an initial public offering in the near future.

Jinchuan Group's board approved an asset restructuring plan as early as 2003, but only recently set a timetable for the IPO. The company is currently looking for a financial consultant to underwrite the IPO, according to the announcement.

Mr Ma Jinchuan Group's spokesperson told Interfax recently that "Jinchuan intends to take advantage of the current prosperity in the domestic stock market, and launch an IPO as soon as possible. However, the official declined to provide any further details regarding the IPO.”

Mr Li Yusheng analyst for Antaike told Interfax that "The IPO is expected to help Jinchuan raise more funds for the company's mineral resource development projects, although that is not to say that the company has insufficient funds at the moment. He added that the further sourcing of long-term and stable resources from both home and abroad has become on of the company's major development strategies.”

Jinchuan Group has a current annual production capacity of 150,000 tons of nickel, 400,000 tonnes of copper, 10,000 tonnes of cobalt, 8 tonnes of gold, 150 tonnes of silver and 3,500 kilograms of platinum group metals. Jinchuan Group expects to generate a sales revenue of CNY 50 billion this year up 41.24% from last year's CNY 35.4 billion (USD 4.72 billion), as well as generate a total turnover of USD 2.5 billion from international trade. Jinchuan Group intends to have sales revenue in excess of CNY 100 billion (USD 13.3 billion) within the next 5 years.