China`s third-largest gold bullion producer Shandong Gold Mining has agreed to buy a 74-percent stake in Chifeng Chaihulanzi Gold Mining Co for about 260 million yuan ($37.96 million), the company said in a statement today.

Chaihulanzi mine, based in North China`s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, recorded sales of 104.6 million yuan and a net income of 45.9 million yuan in the first 10 months of the year, the Shanghai-listed Shandong Gold said in a stock exchange filing on Dec 24.

China`s gold mine output may reach 280 tons this year, Song Quanli, an official with China National Gold Group Corp, China`s largest gold firm, said earlier this month.

China, the world`s largest gold producer, registered a total output of 223.08 tons of gold in the first 10 months of this year, up 3.32 percent from a year earlier, according to figures released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology earlier in December.