{"id":1142722,"date":"2019-10-08T11:08:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T16:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1003874"},"modified":"2019-10-08T11:08:53","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T16:08:53","slug":"china-gets-firmer-grip-on-ivanhoe-mines-by-increasing-stake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1142722","title":{"rendered":"China gets firmer grip on Ivanhoe Mines by increasing stake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Zijin, one of China\u2019s largest mining groups, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ivanhoemines.com\/news\/2019\/ivanhoes-mark-farren-appointed-chief-executive-officer-of-the-kamoa-kakula-copper-joint-venture\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">increasing its stake in Canada\u2019s Ivanhoe Mines<\/a> (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).<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The move means that Friedland\u2019s interest in the company has shrank<br \/>\nto 13.2% of, leaving the two Chinese companies as main shareholders.<\/p>\n<p>Zijin, China\u2019s No.1 gold producer and Ivanhoe\u2019s partner in the massive Kamoa-Kakula&nbsp;copper deposit in the DRC, first acquired <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/zijin-mining-buys-10-canadas-ivanhoe-mines\/\" >a stake in the Vancouver-based miner in 2015<\/a>. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Deal ups Zijin\u2019s stake to 13.88% from 9.8% and reduces Friedland\u2019s to 13.2%, leaving two Chinese companies as the Canadian miner\u2019s top shareholders.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Citic Metal followed suit last year, becoming&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/chinas-citic-ivanhoe-mines-top-shareholder-548m-deal\/\" >Ivanhoe\u2019s largest shareholder<\/a>. Its ownership which will fall to 26.4% with today\u2019s transaction.<\/p>\n<p>The combined funds from the two Chinese companies, the Vancouver-based miner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/ivanhoe-mines-secures-full-financing-first-two-mines-congo\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said at the time<\/a>, are enough to allow it finance Kakula and Kipushi mines to commercial production, and significantly advance, or achieve, production at the company\u2019s Platreef project in South Africa<\/p>\n<p>Friedland, who made his fortune from the Voisey\u2019s Bay nickel<br \/>\nproject in Canada in the 1990s,&nbsp;has been working on Kamoa-Kakula for ten<br \/>\nyears. <\/p>\n<p>The mining legend has repeatedly stated that the project, in<br \/>\nwhich Zijin owns a 36.9% direct interest, is set to become&nbsp;the world\u2019s<br \/>\nsecond-largest copper mine.<\/p>\n<p>According to an&nbsp;independent pre-feasibility study<br \/>\n(PFS)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/friedland-confident-congo-copper-mine-will-worlds-second-largest\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released in February<\/a>, the operation is expected to reach<br \/>\npeak annual production of more than 700,000 tonnes of copper.<\/p>\n<p>Initial production from the Kakula mine, the first of at<br \/>\nleast three copper mines planned at Kamoa-Kakula, is scheduled for late 2021.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reshuffle<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ivanhoe also said on Tuesday that I had appointed&nbsp;Mark<br \/>\nFarren&nbsp;as its Kamoa-Kakula Copper joint venture (JV) chief executive. Farren<br \/>\nwas previously Ivanhoe executive VP of operations.<\/p>\n<p>Zijin&#8217;s Yong Chen, in turn, will assuming the chief of operations<br \/>\nofficer (COO) position. <\/p>\n<p>South African mining veteran&nbsp;Warwick Morley-Jepson&nbsp;has<br \/>\nbeen appointed Ivanhoe\u2019s new COO, taking over the duties formerly held by<br \/>\nFarren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deal ups Zijin&rsquo;s holding to 13.88% from 9.8% and reduces Friedland&rsquo;s to 13.2%, leaving two Chinese companies as the Canadian miner&rsquo;s top shareholders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,4,2640],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1142722"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142783,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142722\/revisions\/1142783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1142722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1142722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1142722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}