May 30 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's largest consumer of copper, will sign an accord tomorrow to invest in mines in Chile to secure supplies of the metal for wires and cables to distribute power in the Asian country's fast-growing economy.

China Minmetals Corp., the nation's biggest state-owned metal trading company, will sign the agreement with Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, to invest jointly in production of the metal, Miguel Poklepovic, a minister-counsellor at the Chilean embassy, said by telephone from Beijing. He declined to elaborate.

Minmetals will set up ventures with Chilean companies and have first option to invest in the Gaby deposit in the north of the country, China Daily reported earlier today, citing Chilean Finance Minister Nicolas Eyzaguirre. Minmetals may buy a stake in the mine ranging from 25 to 49 percent, the newspaper said.

Wang Weiwei, a spokeswoman at China Minmetals, declined to comment.

To contact the reporter for this story: To contact the reporter of this story: Xiao Yu in Beijing at yxiao@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 30, 2005 06:07 EDT