Argentina is in talks with Chinese investors to build a $750 million copper refinery in the South American country, Mining Secretary Jorge Mayoral said in an interview Wednesday.

"We have discussed this issue with Chinese companies that produce cathode copper, that are copper consumers, and are eager to have a this kind of commercial relationship with Argentina because they see us as a big player in the copper market in the future," Mayoral told Dow Jones Newswires.

Mayoral declined to identify the companies or provide a timeline. The project would involve building a plant to process copper concentrates into 210,000 tons of cathode copper and 700,000 tons of sulfuric acid a year.

China's biggest copper producer by output is Jiangxi Copper Co. (0358.HK).

Currently, Argentina only has one significant copper mine, Bajo de la Alumbrera, with annual production capacity of 150,000 metric tons of copper and 400,000 ounces of gold in concentrate. Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) owns 50% of the mine, while Goldcorp (GG) has a 37.5% stake and Canada's Yamana Gold Inc. (AUY, YRI.T) has 12.5%.

Those companies also own the nearby Agua Rica copper-gold-molybdenum mine project.

Argentina currently ships copper concentrates abroad, but the government is pushing for more domestic processing as copper production rises. Based on recent exploration and discoveries, production will grow 10-fold in the coming years, Mayoral said.

The world's biggest copper producer is Chile's state-owned Codelco, which produced around 1.69 million metric tons last year from the other side of the Andes mountains which separate Argentina and Chile.

Chinese investment is flooding into Latin America, reaching $15.6 billion during the 12-month period through the end of May, nearly three times greater than the year-earlier period, according to consulting firm Deloitte. Of that amount, Brazil received about 60% and Argentina close to 40%.

During the last three years, more than 70% of China's investment in the region went to energy and minerals, but farming has become increasingly important and the Chinese have even moved into banking.

Last week the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the largest commercial bank in China, said it would buy an 80% stakes in Standard Bank Argentina SA for $600 million.

-By Shane Romig, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6738;

shane.romig@dowjones.com

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