Chinese make a gold rush for $1.3bn Super Pit stake, by Paul Garvey.

Half of Australia’s most famous gold mine will fall into Chinese hands after a little-known group blew Australian bidders out of the water with a $1.3 billion-plus bid for a stake in Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit.

In what is shaping as another stern test for the Foreign Investment Review Board, Minjar Gold — a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed property group Shandong Tyan Home — will buy the 50 per cent Super Pit stake owned by North American mining giant Barrick Gold.

The deal, which is expected to be announced today, is conditional on FIRB approval and will give Minjar a half share of the 800,000 ounces of gold produced from the Super Pit each year.

The super-pit in action (but turn down the sound!):

The $US1bn ($1.36bn) price tag comfortably eclipses market expectations for the sale. Analysts had predicted the Barrick stake, which was put on the market in August, would fetch up to $US800 million. The 3.5km-long, 1.5km-wide Super Pit skirts the southeast edge of Kalgoorlie and envelops the bulk of the ­­so-called Golden Mile, the rich zone of gold mineralisation that sparked the original gold rush in the region in the 1890s.

hat-tip Stephen Neil