George Fang, executive director and vice-president at Zijin Mining Group, the world’s biggest gold producer by market value, is also the new executive chairperson of the Zijin-controlled Norton Goldfields, of Western Australia, where Chinese executives are on the hunt for more in the belief that “there’s still a lot of cheap stuff around”. Zijin is, Fang says, looking forward to more years of profitable production at Norton’s Paddington Gold Mill, on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, where costs have been cut and production lifted. Zijin is also spending $710-million buying into mines in Papua New Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo as China’s most valuable gold producer extends its reach across the globe.