China Hanking Holdings Ltd (Hanking), an iron ore producer, has announced that its Australian subsidiary — Hanking Gold Mining Pty Ltd — has agreed to buy the Southern Cross Operations of the gold miner St. Barbara Ltd for A$22.5 million ($23.58 million).

The Southern Cross Operations is a gold mining property found in the center of the Yilgarn Goldfields in Western Australia, a site from which more than 10 million ounces of gold have been extracted.

The acquisition is pending approval by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board, and the deal is expected to be completed before early March.

Headquartered in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, Hanking is one of the largest producers of iron in Northeast China and is involved in the exploration, mining and processing of iron ores. It went public in Hong Kong in 2011.