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ANNOUNCEMENT IN RESPECT OF THE MINING CONTRACT OF MIRADOR MINE ENTERED INTO BETWEEN ECUACORRIENTE S.A. AND THE GOVERNMENT OF ECUADOR
This announcement is made on a voluntary basis.
Reference is made to the announcement of China Railway
Construction Corporation Limited (the "Company") dated 29
December 2009 in respect of the joint acquisition of
Corriente Resources Inc..
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Corriente Resources Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary in
Canada of CRCC-Tongguan Investment Co., Ltd., which in turn
is a company established and held as to 50% by each of the
Company and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co.,
Ltd.. Ecuacorriente S.A., as a wholly-owned subsidiary in
Ecuador of Corriente Resources Inc., together with the
Non-renewable Natural Resources Ministry of Ecuador (on
behalf of the government of Ecuador), following over one
year's negotiation, jointly signed the Mining Contract
Entered into Between the Government of Ecuador and
Ecuacorriente S.A. (the "Mining Contract") regarding the
development of the Mirador Mine, a mine owned by
Ecuacorriente S.A., at
17:30 on 5 March 2012 (Ecuador time, which was 6:30 on 6
March in Beijing time) at the Presidential Palace of Ecuador.
The entering into of such contract was witnessed by Mr.
Rafael Correa Delgado, President of Ecuador, and Mr. Yuan
Guisen, China's extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador
in Ecuador. As agreed by both contracting parties, the Mining
Contract will take effect upon the obtaining of approval from
the Chinese government.
Pursuant to the Mining Contract, Ecuacorriente S.A. aims to
build the Mirador Mine into a modern open-pit mine with
ore-processing capacity of 60,000 tons per day and 20,000,000
tons per year by the end of 2016 (in particular, the
ore-processing capacity is expected to reach 30,000 tons per
day and 10,000,000 tons per year by the end of 2014), and
establish a hydropower station with an installed capacity of
129 MW for the mine's operation. The Mining Contract was the
first signed solid mineral mining contract since the
execution of the new constitution of Ecuador.
Mirador Mine, as one of the four mines owned by the
subsidiary in Ecuador of Corriente Resources Inc. in Canada,
which was acquired by CRCC-Tongguan Investment Co., Ltd., has
a proved and controlled ore reserve of 660 million tons with
grade of copper, gold and silver ores reaching 0.53%, 0.17g/t
and 1.41g/t, respectively, which indicates corresponding
reserve of copper, gold and silver of 3,490,000 tons, 112
tons and 927 tons, respectively. After such project reaches
its designed production capacity, the annual output of copper
concentrates will amount to 354,000 tons (the respective
grade for concentrates of copper, gold and silver is expected
to be 26.3%, 5g/t and 54.46g/t). The mine design of the
project is undertaken by China Enfi Engineering Corporation (