* Eyes acquisition targets in Mauritania's iron ore sector
* Not ruling out more deals in Australia
* Welcomes shareholders' approval on OZ Minerals bid
(Adds details, quotes)
By Lee Chyen Yee
TAIPEI, June 11 (Reuters) - China Minmetals is looking for
acquisition targets in Mauritania, and possibly more deals in
Australia after its successful bid for debt-ridden OZ Minerals
China has been scouring the globe to invest in or acquire companies that produce ore and concentrates as the country guzzles raw materials at a heady pace to fuel its growing economy.
"We are interested in acquiring companies in Mauritania that produce iron ore. We're talking to potential companies right now, but I can't give you too many details," Feng Guiquan, a senior vice-president at Minmetals, told Reuters in Taipei.
China and Mauritania already have some trade and investment ties in iron ore.
China, which buys the bulk of its iron ore and concentrates from Australia, Brazil and India, imported 1.9 million tonnes of the raw material from Mauritania between January and April, nearly double the level in the same period a year earlier. [ID:nSHA70770]
Minmetals has a joint venture with Mauritania's state-owned Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (SNIM), which is the world's seventh-largest supplier of iron ore.
Other than iron ore in Africa, Minmetals President Zhou Zhongshu last year said the company, which posted sales of 180.9 billion yuan ($27 billion) last year, was also looking at chromium in South Africa and bauxite in the Caribbean.
"We are not ruling out Australia as well if there are other opportunities, although we are not in a hurry," Feng said.
"Sometimes things can get complicated when there are corporate interests or political considerations involved in such deals," he said.
China's state-owned metals conglomerate Chinalco suffered a
major setback last week when Rio Tinto
But Minmetals was more fortunate.
Earlier in the day, shareholders in Australian miner OZ Minerals approved Minmetals' sweetened $1.4 billion deal to purchase most of the indebted miner's assets. [ID:nSP488757]
"That's good news," Feng said. "We've already settled our funding. Part of it will come from our own capital, while the rest will be from banks."
(Additional reporting by Lin Miao-jung; Editing by Chris Lewis)