In the first six months, the mining giant earned 6.6 billion yuan ($1.02 billion), it said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. That was up from a net income of 2.4 billion yuan in the first half last year and beat the 6.5 billion yuan it earned in total in 2020.

"Major countries' monetary policies remained loose (in the first half)... gold prices had been running at high levels," according to Zijin.

Meanwhile, the energy transition push around the world had sent copper prices to ten-year highs, said the company, adding the supply-side still faces uncertainty due to the pandemic situation.

The miner produced 150 tonnes of gold in the first half, falling 7.58% from the same period a year earlier, said the company.

Copper output during January-June rose 6.5% from a year earlier to 555,782 tonnes, said the company.

For the second half of the year, Zijin expects to see its copper production to increase by 90,000 - 100,000 tonnes from projects in Serbia and DRC and about two more tonnes of gold from the Cukaru Peki copper-gold mine.

It would also actively promote the resumption of the Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea, said the company, without giving further details.

The company, along with Barrick Gold Corp, had been trying to resume operations at the Porgera mine after local government refused an extension of the expired lease.

Zijin's share price on the Shanghai bourse closed at 10.25 yuan per share and HK$11.02 on the Hong Kong Exchange on Friday.

($1 = 6.4615 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Min Zhang in Beijing and Meg Shen in Hong Kong; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)

By Min Zhang and Meg Shen