China Minmetals Co, one of the country's largest mining groups by asset value and overseas projects, merged with China Metallurgical Group Co on Thursday, creating a new conglomerate bigger than the asset value of any of the three global giant mining companies - BHP Billiton Ltd, Rio Tinto Group and Vale SA.

After the merger, China Metallurgical, the largest metallurgical engineering contractor and service provider in the country, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of China Minmetals. The company will no longer be directly administered by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

Before the merger, China Minmetals had overseas operations in 34 countries and regions.