ZIJIN Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer, said it will seek one or two major overseas acquisitions this year to increase reserves substantially as it banks that higher metal prices will drive its growth.

"The company will intensify exploration and increase efforts to acquire gold mines," Chairman Chen Jinghe said in a statement it filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. "The company has identified a number of key projects" and is studying the feasibility for acquisitions.

Its net income jumped 16 percent from a year earlier to 3.55 billion yuan (US$513 million) last year. Revenue rose 24 percent annually to 20.22 billion yuan, according to the statement.

The company attributed the growth to the rising prices of precious metals such as gold in 2009. The bullion price rose sharply to a record US$1,226.56 an ounce in early December from US$801.5 per ounce in January 2009. The firm's average gold selling price was US$965.97 an ounce last year, a 9.41 percent rise from a year ago.

Sensing that gold prices will continue to rise, Fujian-based Zijin plans to boost gold production by 1.5 percent to 31.1 tons this year from 30.7 tons last year.

Zijin has completed a series of domestic acquisitions last year as it tapped investment opportunities in the industry during the financial crisis. It's also a major shareholder of Canadian-based Continental Minerals Corp and made a takeover bid for Australian Indophil to raise holdings of overseas reserves.