Investment in Mining Operations and resources related
Mining & Resources-Related Businesses
Sapphire Group's most prolific investment has been its effective 16% stake in HK-incorporated vertically integrated mining, iron and steel producer, Trisonic International Limited ("Trisonic").
Trisonic was incorporated in 2006 by the shareholders of Sichuan ChuanWei Group Co., Ltd ("ChuanWei") as a Special-Purpose-Vehicle to hold ChuanWei's integrated mining and steel subsidiaries. In late 2007, Sapphire acquired an effective 16% stake in Trisonic via our 40%-owned associate company Kingston Grand Limited, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
ChuanWei is a conglomerate that is ranked amongst the PRC's top 500 Companies and is the largest privately owned integrated steel group in Sichuan Province.
Trisonic's Subsidiaries:
- China Vanadium Titano-Magnetite Mining Company Ltd ("CVT")
HK-incorporated CVT holds the concessions to two iron ore mines located in Sichuan's Panzhihua iron-ore belt. It is the largest privately owned iron ore producer in Sichuan. Principal activities include mining, ore processing, iron pelletising and sale of iron pellets, iron ore concentrates, and titanium concentrates. - Neijiang Bowei Fuel & Chemical Co., Ltd ("Bowei")
Bowei produces coke from coal with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. All the coke produced by the plant is supplied to WeiYuan for steel making. The gas produced as by-product from coke-making is converted to electricity and sold to the authorities. - Weiyuan Steel Co., Ltd ("WeiYuan")
WeiYuan is Sichuan's largest privately owned iron and steel-making company with an annual production capacity of 2 million tonnes of crude steel, which are further processed into steel billets and slabs. WeiYuan also recovers vanadium slag, a by- product from its steel-making process. These steel slabs and vanadium slag become important material inputs for Special Steel's production.
WeiYuan's own raw material requirements are partially supplied by its sister company, CVT, lending a critical stability element in its supply chain. It has recently been granted approval by the PRC authority to increase its current annual production capacity to 4 million tonnes