Chalco's Shanghai-listed A shares closed at 49.12 yuan on Wednesday, 2-1/2 times the Hong Kong price. Nothing Ventured Alcoa and Chalco agreed in 2001 to set up an equal-stake joint venture to operate the Chinese company's wholly owned Pingguo plant in the Guangxi region of southern China. There have been no signs, however, of the venture being formed, said an executive at the Pingguo plant who asked not to be identified. "Alcoa's staff have not come here for a long time," the executive said. He said an Alcoa project manager, a frequent visitor in previous years, had not been to Pingguo for a year or two. Industry sources in China have noted that Pingguo owns one of the best bauxite reserves in the country, making it China's most efficient alumina producer. Chalco is trying to boost its reserves of bauxite, the ore refined into alumina, both in China and overseas.