Clive Palmer, Australia's fifth- richest man, expects to...

Clive Palmer, Australia's fifth- richest man, expects to complete an initial public offering of his Resource house mining group in Hong Kong by the end of the year to benefit from demand in China.

"There is a big need in China for growth for resources generally in the Chinese market", Mr Palmer said today.

However, he stopped short of saying how big the initial public offering would be, saying he was still deciding which mining assets it would include.

Mr Palmer is planning a $5.15 billion coal project in Queensland state and an iron ore mine in WA.

Reports out of China today suggested he could sell between $US2 billion and $US3 billion in shares.

Mr Palmer's ambitious plans to list Resource Development International, boasting an extensive Cape Preston landholding he claimed contained tens of billions of tonnes of magnetite, was axed last year because of the economic crisis.

"One thing that is clear is the Chinese are planning to move another 350 million people to the cities from rural areas and that is going to increase demand for commodities," Mr Palmer said.

Funds from the sale, being managed by UBS and Macquarie Group, will be used to develop resources, he said.

Palmer, chairman of the closely held coal and iron ore company Mineralogy, was the only person in the top-10 of Business Review Weekly Magazines annual rich 200 list whose wealth increased last year.