Guangdong-based textile firm Kam Hing International, in cooperation with China's third-largest iron and steel producer, Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, expects to start exploring and exploiting mineral resources in Madagascar in the first quarter of 2009, a top company executive said.

Kam Hing and WISCO formed a joint-venture company last month, with Kam Hing taking a 40 percent stake. Together, the two firms acquired exploration rights to the Madagascar mine.

Initial investment will be at least HK$100 million, depending on the exploitation report due in the second quarter, according to Elmen Wong, Kam Hing's chief financial officer.

"Subsequent to the acquisition of a zinc mine's exploration right in Guangxi last November, the cooperation with a leading steel and iron producer [WISCO] in China this time not only provides reliable technical support to us, it will also bring a stable source of income as our strategic partner becomes our major client in the future," Wong said.

In November, the firm obtained an exploration license for zinc resources in China's Guangxi Guiping city with a total mining area of 20.5 square kilometers. Total investment for the zinc project will amount to 90 million yuan in two to three years' time, with an expected output of 3,000 to 4,000 tons a month when fully operational.