Zijin, one of China’s largest mining groups, is increasing its stake in Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) to 13.88% from 9.8% by acquiring 35.7 million shares from CITIC Metal and 12.9 million shares from founder Robert Friedland for about C$194 million ($146m).
The move means that Friedland’s interest in the company has shrunk to 13.2%, leaving the two Chinese companies as main shareholders.
Zijin, China’s No.1 gold producer and Ivanhoe’s partner in the massive Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the DRC, first acquired a stake in the Vancouver-based miner in 2015. Citic Metal followed suit last year, becoming Ivanhoe’s largest shareholder. Its ownership will fall to 26.4% with today’s transaction.
The combined funds from the two Chinese companies, the Vancouver-based miner said at the time, are enough to allow it finance Kakula and Kipushi mines to commercial production, and significantly advance, or achieve, production at the company’s Platreef project in South Africa.
Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey’s Bay nickel project in Canada in the 1990s, has been working on Kamoa-Kakula for ten years.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/china-gets-firmer-grip-on-ivanhoe-mines-by-increasing-stake/