TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – A Chinese group plans to buy out the remaining minority shareholders of Canada's Corriente Resources and delist the firm from the NYSE Amex and TSX, after acquiring shares equal to 96,9% of the smaller company.

CRCC-Tongguan Investment, which is jointly owned by mining conglomerate Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group and China Railway Construction Corporation, said on Monday it has paid for the 76,5-million Corriente shares that it acquired through a C$8,60 a share offer for the company.

The friendly offer, which was announced on December 29 and expired on May 28, is the latest in a series of investments by Chinese companies in Canadian-owned mineral resource companies.

All the directors and officers of Corriente have since been replaced by nominees of CRCC-Tongguan.

Corriente is a copper and gold exploration and development company and its most advanced asset is the Mirador copper/gold project in Ecuador, where it has completed a feasibility study.

The company said late last year that the agreement with CRCC-Tongguan was the culmination of an extensive review of strategic alternatives over the last two years.

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