China's largest gold miner Zijin Mining Group Co. said Tuesday its first quarter net profit rose 40 percent year on year to 1.28 billion yuan (180 million U.S. dollars).

Revenue rose 27.4 percent to 6.31 billion yuan and earnings per share hit 0.088 yuan, a rise of 39.68 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

It said its strong performance partly stemmed from rising copper and zinc sales in the first quarter, which jumped 28.34 percent and 50.79 percent year on year respectively.

The booming profits were also attributable to the rising prices of its major products. Prices of gold surged 20.24 percent, copper concentrate rose by 107.9 percent and zinc by 71.43 percent.

The Fujian-based company reaped 3.54 billion yuan in net profits last year, up 17.8 percent year on year.

Its stock edged up 1.81 percent to 8.46 yuan per share Tuesday.