China’s Citic to take 20% stake in Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mines Share – by Neil Hume (Financial Post – June 11, 2018)

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A Chinese state-owned conglomerate is set to become the biggest shareholder in Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mines. Under the deal, announced in Beijing on Monday, Citic will take a 20 per cent stake in Ivanhoe for $560m and make a $100m loan facility available to the Canadian listed company.

Citic will also help Ivanhoe arrange project financing for the Kamoa-Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been hailed by analysts as the most significant copper find in decades.

The investment comes as the copper market heads for a deficit, with demand set to outstrip supplies. There is a paucity of new copper projects under development, while demand for the metal is set to increase as renewable energy generation grabs market share from fossil fuels.

It is also the latest example of a Chinese company investing the DRC, Africa’s largest copper producer. Mr Friedland, Ivanhoe’s executive chairman, said the agreement was the culmination of a 15-year relationship between with Citic.

“In 2003, the original Ivanhoe Mines was grappling with the challenge of developing its vast copper-gold discoveries at the Oyu Tolgoi Project in southern Mongolia.

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