As Chinese miner MMG Ltd seeks growth, chief executive Andrew Michelmore said Thursday that the company is open to work with partners. He declined, however, to comment on whether it has plans on making a bid for a stake in Glencore Xstrata's USD5 billion Las Bambas copper project in Peru.

Michelmore had made clear that Peru fits where the company is looking for copper acquisitions. He also reiterated that the company was pursuing opportunities within the range of USD1 billion to USD4 billion. The kinds of partners that the company would look for could bring financial support or operating, marketing, and technical experience, according to Michelmore.

MMG, Chinalco Mining Corp International and Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd, all Chinese firms, had expressed an interest in Las Bambas. Chinese regulators required Glencore to sell the Las Bambas project as a condition for clearing its USD30 billion takeover of Xstrata earlier this year.

According to a report by Reuters last week, there is the possibility that the Chinese firms may be put into teams, rather than bidding individually for a potentially large project.