Mobile payment grows

China's mobile payment market recorded a transaction volume of 74.2 billion yuan ($11.75 billion) in 2011, 67.8 percent higher than that in 2010, according to a report released yesterday by Beijing-based market research company Analysys International.

The number of mobile payment users increased 26.4 percent year-on-year to 187 million last year, the report said.

The market transaction volume is expected to reach 385 billion yuan with 387 million users in 2014.

Analysys attributed the growth of the market to the rapid development of mobile Internet services, quick growth in the number of mobile applications and greater efforts by mobile payment companies in product development and promotion.

Mining M&A robust

In 2011, emerging market miners represented almost a quarter of global mining mergers and acquisitions by value, and China was dominant among the emerging countries, according to a research report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers in Shanghai yesterday.

In 2011, more than 2,600 M&A deals worth $149 billion were announced in the global mining sector. Volumes were close to historic highs and values were 33 percent higher than 2010, the accounting firm said in the report.

"The importance of growth market investors continues to grow. We can see China's importance expand with each passing year and many countries in Africa are set to emerge as important mining geographies with unparalleled resource potential and gradually improving investment environments," said Ken Su, the firm's China mining leader.