Fujian Zijin Mining Industry Co. said Wednesday its shares would start trading on Hong Kong's main board Dec. 23.

Although later than anticipated, the gold miner dismissed speculation stock exchange regulators had questioned it about disclosure issues.

A banking source said this week the company earlier postponed its listing date to Dec. 22 from Dec. 19 on expectations of tight fund flows after Great Wall Automobile's initial public offering.

The retail tranche of Great Wall's IPO, which closed Monday, was about 680 times covered, according to a source close to the deal.

The subscription period for the retail portion of Fujian Zijin's IPO will now start Thursday and end Dec. 16, when the pricing will also be fixed.

Previously, the subscription period for the retail tranche was due to start Wednesday and end Dec. 15, and before that it was due to run from Tuesday until Friday.

The rescheduling has raised speculation the company has been asked to provide additional information about its listing. However, its listing sponsor, China Everbright Capital Ltd., said that isn't the case.

"This is an incorrect suggestion. It's (the delay) due to numerous logistics-related reasons," China Everbright Capital Managing Director Kelvin Wu said.

Since the bookbuilding began Dec. 2, the institutional tranche of Fujian Zijin is "more than 10 times oversubscribed," a source close to the deal said. This book is due to close Friday.

The company launched its listing, worth as much as HK$1.15 billion, this month as gold prices approached eight-year highs.

This came after it raised the top end of its indicative price range to HK$3.3 per share from HK$3.2 on strong institutional interest. The low end remains unchanged at HK$2.9.

The company expects its net profit to be no less than 280 million yuan (US$1=8.28 yuan) in 2003, more than double in 2002. It hopes to increase its annual production volume of gold to 15 metric tons by 2008, up from 9 tons currently.

Fujian Zijin will mainly use the proceeds of the share sale for the environmental management of its major asset, Zijinshan Gold Mine, to purchase mining and exploration rights around Zijinshan, and to acquire additional gold resources in central and western China.

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