The king of counter-cyclical policies is breaking the norm this time! Zijin Mining acquires Chifeng Gold for 18.2 billion yuan, with the actual controller liquidating their holdings and exiting the market.

Hot Topics

            Watchlist
Data Center
Market Center
Capital Flow
Simulated Trading
        

        Client

For stock trading, look at the analyst reports from Golden Qilin. Authoritative, professional, timely, and comprehensive, helping you uncover potential thematic opportunities!

Source: Huaxia Times

Zijin Mining’s Ghana Gold Mine. Source: Company Website

Reporter Zhang Bei and Huang Zhinan report from Shenzhen

With gold prices at a high, a controlling transaction worth 18.258 billion yuan has completely shaken up the power dynamics in China’s gold industry.

On March 23, Chifeng Gold, listed in both A-share and H-share markets, and domestic mining leader Zijin Mining simultaneously announced the completion of the largest control transfer transaction in recent years among private listed mining companies in China’s gold industry. Zijin Mining acquired a 25.85% stake in Chifeng Gold through a comprehensive plan of “A-share agreement transfer + H-share private placement,” achieving control and consolidation. The original controlling person, Li Jinyang, will completely offload all of his shares and exit the stage.

The acquisition was conducted at a mere 1.3% premium, yet it faced a market backlash. On the first trading day after resumption, Chifeng Gold’s A-shares hit the daily limit down, and H-shares plummeted 24%; on the same day, Zijin Mining, which held its best-ever earnings conference, was also not spared, with its stock price dropping 3.38% and hitting a low not seen since 2026. The market expressed its clear dissent regarding the value controversy of this high-priced acquisition and doubts about the synergy realization.

This transaction, marking a change in the leadership of a private gold giant, not only recalls the industry history of former Zijin executives steering the company back into the hands of its old owner but also signifies that competition logic in the gold industry has shifted from resource contention to capital efficiency competition.

Peak Departure

The peak moment is also the moment of departure.

On Monday, March 19, Chifeng Gold was urgently suspended from trading. “That evening, Wang Jianhua, the chairman of this private gold giant, posted an impromptu poem in his social circle, one line of which, ‘Purple energy comes surging,’ hinted to those familiar with him about the outcome,” a person close to Chifeng Gold revealed to Huaxia Times reporters.

Three trading days later, the mystery was unveiled. On the morning of March 23, Chifeng Gold and Zijin Mining simultaneously announced the completion of the largest control transfer transaction among private mining companies in China’s gold industry in recent years. Zijin Mining invested 18.258 billion yuan and acquired a 25.85% stake in Chifeng Gold through a comprehensive plan of “A-share agreement transfer + H-share private placement,” achieving control and consolidation.

Alongside Zijin Mining’s entry was the complete exit of the original controlling person, Li Jinyang, who will unload all of his shares in Chifeng Gold without any regrets.

On this day, it had been less than three days since Chifeng Gold presented its most remarkable 2025 annual report since going public.

According to reporters’ observations, this was a control transfer design that required mutual effectiveness. On the A-share side, Zijin Mining’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Zijin Gold, acquired 242 million shares held by Li Jinyang and his concerted parties at a price of 41.36 yuan per share, totaling 10.006 billion yuan, which was only a 1.3% premium over the closing price before suspension, nearly a flat transfer. After the transaction, Li Jinyang would completely offload his shares.

On the H-share side, Chifeng Gold conducted a directed private placement of 311 million shares to Zijin Gold at a price of 30.19 HKD per share, raising 9.386 billion HKD, which was at a 17% discount compared to the average price of the previous 60 trading days before the agreement was signed. After the transaction, Zijin Mining would secure more than two-thirds of the board seats in the listed company, fully controlling operational decision-making.

The foreshadowing for this peak departure was planted over three years ago. In 2012, Chifeng Gold’s founder, Zhao Meiguang, completed a backdoor listing, taking a decade to transform a regional company with only three small and medium-sized gold mines into a leading private gold producer in China. However, he unexpectedly passed away on the eve of the company’s performance explosion in 2021, with all equity under his name being inherited by his spouse, Li Jinyang.

Li Jinyang, who had no experience in mining operations, never intervened in the company’s daily operations, delegating all decision-making power to the professional management team led by Wang Jianhua.

Wang Jianhua, who served as the president of Zijin Mining from 2013 to 2016, was the core driver of Zijin Mining’s globalization strategy. He successfully replicated the “focus on gold, global layout” strategy that had been proven at his former company, successfully entering the upper tier of the industry.

According to reporters’ observations, during Wang Jianhua’s tenure at Shandong Gold, Zijin Mining, and Chifeng Gold, the resource quantity and reserves of each mining group significantly increased.

2025 marked the performance peak for Chifeng Gold since its listing. That year, it officially landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first A+H listed gold company in Inner Mongolia. The annual report for that year showed total operating revenue of 12.64 billion yuan, a net profit attributable to shareholders of 3.082 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 74.7% compared to 2024, a gross profit margin of 52.47%, and a historical low debt-to-asset ratio of 33.91%.

By the end of 2025, its consolidated basis had gold resources of 583 tons, with an average grade of 1.54 grams/ton, operating six gold mines and one polymetallic mine, with business covering China, Southeast Asia, and West Africa. The core mines within the country, such as Jilong Mining and Wulong Mining, all have gold grades exceeding 7 grams/ton, with significant cost advantages. The overseas Laos Saipan Mine holds exclusive exploration rights over 1,127 square kilometers, and the Ghana Wassa Gold Mine is located in the world-famous Ashanti Gold Belt, with excellent mineralization conditions and huge resource potential.

For Li Jinyang, exiting the company and industry at their dual peaks is the most rational financial conclusion; for Wang Jianhua, this transaction completes a fateful loop—he has transformed Chifeng Gold into a core competitor of his former employer, and ultimately returned it to the industrial chessboard of Zijin Mining.

From reverse to forward, the investment sentiment turns

The acquisition of control for 18.258 billion yuan has placed Zijin Mining, known for its “counter-cyclical bottom fishing,” back into the center of market controversy over “high-priced acquisition.”

Driven by safe-haven demand and diversified asset allocation, global gold market investment enthusiasm significantly increased in 2025. By the end of December 2025, the London spot gold fixing price rose by 62.90% compared to the beginning of the year. According to the World Gold Council, global total gold demand (including over-the-counter transactions) exceeded 5,000 tons for the first time in 2025. Throughout the year, gold prices repeatedly hit historical highs, breaking records 53 times, with total global gold demand value reaching 555 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 45%.

The biggest question in the market directly points to this “king of mining bottom fishing” breaking its own decades-long merger logic—choosing to take a huge stake when gold prices are at historical highs and the valuation of the target asset shows no significant discount.

In fact, this is not the first time Zijin Mining has made moves at high gold prices. In recent years, as international gold prices entered a super bull market, Zijin Mining has quietly adjusted its acquisition rhythm, stepping out of the single counter-cyclical bottom fishing framework. In 2025, it completed the acquisitions of two large operating gold mines, the Akim Gold Mine in Ghana and the Raygorodok Polymetallic Mine in Kazakhstan, supporting its gold production growth for the year.

	As 2026 begins, Zijin Mining's publicly traded subsidiary Zijin Gold International also acquired 100% of Canadian United Gold for 28 billion yuan, securing its future capacity increase.

	During the earnings briefing on March 23, Zijin Mining's vice chairman and president Lin Hongfu remarked that the acquisition of Chifeng Gold is highly aligned with the company's gold business strategy and is a crucial move for the gold segment layout. Chifeng Gold's mines in Ghana, Laos, and several within China all have good exploration prospects and further capacity enhancement potential.

	“Gold prices will have intense fluctuations in the short to medium term, but in the long term, the issues of global governance order and excessive issuance of fiat currency remain fundamentally unresolved, and the logic for high gold prices to rise further remains unchanged. Zijin Group will not become a mere investment platform; core assets will definitely remain in our hands,” Lin Hongfu stated.

	Zijin Mining's growth history is essentially a textbook on counter-cyclical mergers and acquisitions. The Zijinshan Gold and Copper Mine, once deemed to have an average grade of only 0.37 grams/ton and no economic development value, was revitalized into China's largest single gold mine through self-developed mining and selection technologies, thereby establishing the profit logic of “underestimated assets + technology empowerment + cost control.”

	Over decades, this logic has solidified into replicable merger guidelines, focusing on high-quality mineral resources undervalued by the market, relying on the “mineral flow five-ring convergence” technology management system, revitalizing stock through technological upgrades and refined management, and realizing excess returns in the upward cycle.

	In this acquisition of Chifeng Gold, Zijin Mining continues to attempt to use this mature model to explain the transaction logic. The announcement indicates that all of Chifeng Gold's mines are in production status, contributing output and profits in the year of acquisition. Moreover, constrained by insufficient prior exploratory investment, the resource increment potential has yet to be fully released, and Zijin Mining can achieve resource expansion with its own exploration technology.

	Deeper strategic considerations lie within the changing global mining landscape. The barriers to acquiring quality gold mines overseas continue to rise; high-quality gold resources in China are scarce, and industry competition is increasingly fierce.

	From Zijin Mining's perspective, acquiring a publicly listed entity can radiate multiple project resources at a lower cost, disperse investment risks, and simultaneously complement the securities platform layout of the gold segment.

	A chief analyst in the non-ferrous industry from a Shenzhen brokerage told reporters that the market's divergence over “buying high” fundamentally stems from differences in judgment regarding the future trajectory of gold. However, for Zijin Mining, this transaction is by no means a short-term financial investment, but a long-term strategic positioning in the global gold arena. Locking in targets with mature overseas operational teams, quality operating mines, and clear resource increment potential carries far greater long-term value than short-term price fluctuations.

	Once the transaction is finalized, the competitive landscape of China's gold industry will be directly reshaped. Based on 2025 production calculations, Zijin Mining's annual gold output will leap from 90 tons to 104.3 tons (approximately 3.68 million ounces), breaking the 100-ton barrier, further consolidating its leading position in China and steadily advancing toward the ranks of global top gold giants.

	At the same time, Zijin Mining has committed to resolving the issue of intra-industry competition within 60 months after acquiring control. Chifeng Gold will become its differentiated gold listing platform, precisely connecting various levels of resource acquisition targets and enhancing its full-chain integration capability.

	Controversies and risks are likewise unavoidable. The announcement clearly states that the final delivery of the transaction still requires multiple procedural approvals, including antitrust reviews, compliance confirmations from the exchange, and approval from Chifeng Gold's shareholders' meeting; there is still uncertainty as to whether the control change can be realized.

	What is of greater market concern is the profit pressure on the target asset. In 2025, due to the sharp increase in costs at the Ghana Wassa Gold Mine, Chifeng Gold's unit operating cost for gold production rose to 326 yuan/gram, with total sustaining costs reaching 373 yuan/gram; among which, the total sustaining cost of the Ghana Wassa Gold Mine soared to 1,973 USD/ounce, nearing the current international gold price level. If gold prices experience sustained significant corrections in the future, the target's performance will face considerable downward pressure, and the expected profits from the transaction will also be significantly reduced.

	From founder Zhao Meiguang's backdoor listing to the professional management team completing the global layout, and ultimately being acquired by an industry leader at the peak of its performance, Chifeng Gold's fourteen-year capital journey has reached its conclusion in this manner.

	For Zijin Mining, this acquisition that breaks its own conventions is both a continuation of the “resource priority” strategy and a proactive strike at reshaping the global gold industry landscape. In the midst of global monetary turmoil and increasingly fierce competition for core resources, the curtain on the consolidation of China's gold industry's leaders has been raised.