China Mining United Fund plans to raise 3 billion yuan ($442 million) to 5 billion yuan to invest in gold, iron ore and metals projects to supply commodities to the world's biggest consumer of metals and energy.

The fund, which owns stakes in Brazil Potash Corp. and Canada's Allana Potash Corp., will seek marketing rights for the mines and oilfields it invests in, the Beijing-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.

"We are investing in whatever China is short of -- potash, cobalt, uranium, chromium, copper, gold, silver, oil, coking coal and iron ore," China Mining United Fund, which raised 500 million yuan last year, said.

Chinese companies, including the nation's sovereign wealth fund, spent more than $30 billion last year buying assets in Nigeria, Australia and Canada as two decades of growth averaging 10.1 percent spurred raw materials consumption. Bets on commodities helped China Investment Corp. post an 11.7 percent return on its overseas portfolio in 2009, reversing a loss.

China Mining United Fund has invested in companies and projects in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong, it said. It also owns a stake in Excelsior Energy Ltd., a Canadian energy exploration company.

Potash Investments

The fund bought 8 million shares in Allana last November for 25 Canadian cents each. Allana, planning a $280 million project in Ethiopia, traded at 38.5 cents on Aug. 16.

Potash, a soil nutrient, rose to more than $1,000 a metric ton in 2008 on higher agricultural commodity prices.

The fund is chaired by Zheng Zhi, a deputy chairman of the Peking University PE Investment Union and chairman of privately owned Zhengda Group. His team includes Zheng Dayu, a former chief engineer at the China Nuclear Geology Bureau and Chen Yanshao, former chief geologist for Barrick Gold Corp. (China) Ltd.

The provincial government in Qinghai, where most of China's potash resources are located, initially agreed to jointly set up an overseas potash investment fund, China Mining United said. In Gansu, the fund increased the reserve of Dagoucao Gold Mine to 18 metric tons from 2 tons after it bought the mine in May 2009, it said.