Zijin will initially subscribe for 139 million shares in Xanadu priced at 4c each for a 9.9% stake, with the pricing at near-40% premium to recent market pricing of the stock.

Two further phases of investment are then anticipated over the next four months, involving a second investment in Xanadu at the same pricing to take Zijin's interest to 20%, and the formation of a joint venture company owned 50:50 by the parties following a US$35 million outlay by the Chinese company.

The funding is expected to get Kharmagtai to the construction phase.

Scoping work completed earlier this week pointed to a prefeasibility study starting next quarter and being finished late next year.

The scoping work outlined a multi-decade operation initially producing 30,000-50,000t per annum of copper plus 5000-110,000 ounces per annum of gold.

Shares in Xanadu were up 36% to A3.8c in late trade, capitalising the company at $48 million.