After storming Africa, resource-hungry China Monday made a big opening into the Latin American mineral market by inking a $1-billion deal with Canadian copper major Quadra Mining Ltd for a stake in its copper operations in Chile.

Chile accounts for 35 percent of the world's copper output. China has a deep shortage of the metal needed for developing power grids to meet its growing energy demand. It is the biggest stake gained by the Chinese in a Canadian metal resource company.

'We bring to the table expertise. They bring to the table money,'' CEO Paul Blythe of the Vancouver-base Quadra told the media at the on-going annual Prospectors & Developers Association conference here Monday. About 300 mining companies from around the world are participating in the gathering.

The deal will be formally signed in May by Quadra and State Grid International Development Ltd, which is a division of State Grid Corp. of China - one of the world's largest copper customers.

Under the deal, State Grid will fork $900 million for two projects in Chile under the joint venture and pay $152 million for a 10 per cent stake in Quadra.

Quadra and the Chinese will undertake joint ventures in Chile and elsewhere.

After making inroads in the African continent, the Chinese are now feverishly making forays into Canada and Latin America for resources.