SK Networks Co. (001740.SE), the trading unit of South Korean family-run business conglomerate SK Group, said Wednesday it has won approval from the Chinese government to buy a stake in a Chinese copper company, Yonhap news agency reported.

SK Networks had said it would buy the 45% stake in Northern Copper Industrial Co. for KRW202.8 billion ($193 million) in a joint bid with South Korea's state-run Korea Resources Corp., as part of their efforts to gain access to overseas mineral resources, the report said.

Northern Copper owns a copper mine in the Chinese province of Shanxi, which has 1.5 million metric tons of reserves, SK Networks said, according to the news agency.