China Western Mining loses $15 mln in hedging in H1

BEIJING Aug 3 (Reuters) - Western Mining Co, China's second largest lead miner, said on Monday it had lost 100 million yuan ($14.64 million) on hedging contracts in the first half, fuelling a 90 percent year-on-year plunge in its net profit growth.

Western Mining (601168.SS), in which a unit of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) holds a 3.1 percent stake, said in its first-half report that the losses were due to a sudden second-quarter reverse in non-ferrous metal prices, which had tumbled in late 2008 and early 2009.

The company holds a licence to trade futures abroad, but did not give details of where the losses took place or on what kinds of products.

State media reported that Western Mining traded a range of futures from copper and aluminium to zinc and lead, but the main product it trades on futures exchanges is alumina, with three quarters of deals done through overseas contracts.

China's state-owned corporations have suffered billions of dollars of losses related to commodity price fluctuations or forex trading over the past year.

Three airlines -- Air China (601111.SS)(0753.HK), Shanghai Airlines 600591.SS and China Eastern (600115.SS) -- reported book losses totalling 13.17 billion yuan ($1.94 billion) as of the end of January on aviation fuel hedging contracts. [ID:nPEK206094] (Reporting by Eadie Chen and Chen Aizhu, Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison/Will Waterman) (eadie.chen@reuters.com; +8610 6627 1268; Reuters Messaging: eadie.chen.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ($1=6.831 Yuan)