Beijing - World-renowned investor Jim Rogers is in talks with Hengtai Datong Gold Investment Ltd on cooperation opportunities to cash in on surging demand for the precious metal in China, the company claimed on Wednesday.

Wang Zhibin, the Beijing-based company's CEO, said that Rogers may either buy a stake in the privately held firm or jointly develop gold mine projects with it.

"Our innovative investment model in bullion has attracted Rogers," said Wang, adding that the US investor, who visited the company's headquarters in July, may use the company as a platform to enter China's nascent bullion investment market.

The company's transaction volume for the yellow metal jumped 50 percent in the first seven months of this year compared with the same period in 2009, on Chinese investors' feverish enthusiasm for gold as the realty and capital markets lost steam.

"I bought gold in China many times, and I'm sure I will continue to buy gold in China, I do think there's fabulous future for gold in China," Rogers said in a telephone interview with China Daily on Wednesday.

But he didn't confirm possible cooperation with Hengtai Datong, saying that he only had dinner with the company's top management team a few weeks ago in Beijing.

"If I find a suitable way to invest (in China's gold market), I'm sure I will," said Rogers, the co-founder of the Quantum Group of Funds with tycoon George Soros in the 1970s.

"Anything is possible, if the opportunities come along," Rogers said.

China is the world's biggest supplier and the second-largest consumer of the precious metal. Gold demand in the nation surged 9 percent to 427.5 tons in 2009. That compared with the global market's 11 percent drop in demand over the same period.

Zhang Bingnan, vice-president of the China Gold Association, said that China is expected to report even higher gold output in 2010.

The People's Bank of China, along with five ministries, released a report earlier this month to encourage the development of the domestic gold market.

If the government seeks to foster the growth of China's gold market, this will create "great opportunities" for investors, Rogers said, adding that the size of the country's population and the limited supply of the precious metal in the world market were also the reasons for him to bet on gold.

He said that China transition from a less-developed to a developed economy would offer "hundreds of opportunities", but he refused to comment on the sectors that he favors the most.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/26/2010 page13)