Another Australian copper and gold mine could soon change hands, with the Chinese owners of the Northparkes mine in NSW mulling an exit.

China Molybdenum Company (CMOC) has owned Northparkes for almost a decade after paying Rio Tinto $US820 million for its 80 per cent stake in December 2013, but a series of massive premiums for copper deals in the past year is understood to have tempted the Chinese company to test market interest in the 29-year-old asset.