China’s Zijin Mining vies with Glencore after record year for profits
The gold and copper producer has a market capitalisation on par with global commodity trading giant Glencore
Zijin Mining Group racked up record annual profit after a growth burst that made the Chinese firm as big as global commodities giant Glencore, although it has softened its output targets for this year.
Net income for 2024 rose 52 per cent to 32 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion), the company said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on late Tuesday. Its market capitalisation is now roughly on par with Glencore after it ramped up copper output and enjoyed record-high gold prices last year.
Still, there are signs of a slowdown in the immediate pace of expansion, with Zijin lowering its output target for copper by about 6 per cent to 1.15 million tons. The foray into lithium has also faltered, after it produced very small volumes last year and slashed its production goal for 2025 by around 60 per cent to 40,000 tons.
Zijin’s shares fell 1.1 per cent to HK$14.84 in Hong Kong on Wednesday, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index slipped 1.6 per cent.
The miner has grown aggressively in the past decade, becoming a major global copper supplier by building out big new projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in mainland China. Like rival miner Rio Tinto Group, Zijin has made lithium a key pillar of its future ambitions, aiming to become one of the world’s biggest producers.
The lithium push has been stymied by a torrid market. Last year, it postponed two new projects in Argentina and Western China. A near 90 per cent slump in prices of the battery metal from 2022 has forced swathes of companies worldwide to rein in their expansion plans or cut output.
