S.Korea to invest $276 mln in Mexico's El Boleo -paper

SEOUL, April 7 (Reuters) - South Korea plans to invest $276 million in the El Boleo mining project in Mexico by purchasing a stake held by Canadian group Baja Mining (BAJ.TO), the Maeil Business Newspaper said on Monday.

State-run Korea Resources Corp plans to sign an agreement on Thursday to buy a part of the 10 percent stake from Baja, the report said, citing an unnamed government source.

Both the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Korea Resources declined to comment.

Baja said in September that production at the project would start in mid-2009, with average annual output for the first four years projected at 55,750 tonnes of copper cathode, 1,535 tonnes of cobalt cathode and 6,300 tonnes of zinc contained metal.

It estimated capital costs needed to build the mine and process plant complex would be $568 million. (Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Ken Wills)