Chinese miners accelerate fundraising as global deals loom

Barely a month into the new year, Chinese miners have already unveiled plans that would allow them to raise almost a third of the funds they secured during the whole of 2025, as soaring metals prices underline the urgency of boosting production capacity.

CMOC Group Ltd. and Jiangxi Copper Co., a major Chinese miner and top copper smelter, have announced a combined $4.8 billion worth of bond issuance in January to fund expansions and acquisitions. That compares to $15.6 billion raised by the entire sector last year, the highest annual total since 2022 as the industry benefited from renewed enthusiasm.

The boom in fundraising is likely to continue, and the miners will probably favor debt over equity offerings, according to Michelle Leung, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

“It’s a race of competing for limited resources and the market remain bullish in the long-term price, especially gold and copper,” she said. “Bond issuance is more favorable for established companies with stable cashflow especially when the market expects rates to go lower.”

Inner Mongolia Xingye Silver & Tin Mining Co. is also considering a dollar bond offering, people familiar with the matter said last week.

A sharp rally across the metals complex is spurring takeover activity and fundraising. Copper, which climbed to a record above $13,000 a ton this month, has benefited from its central role in the energy transition, as well as a surge in consumption due to the artificial intelligence boom. Gold, which has almost doubled over the past year, is being supported by the debasement trade and the US’s upending of geopolitics.

Takeover activity by Chinese firms is heating up. A unit of Zijin Mining Group Co., the country’s largest miner, said on Monday it had agreed to buy Allied Gold Corp. to get access to mines in Africa — a move that shareholders cheered, pushing the stock of the unit up as much as 19% in Hong Kong on Tuesday. That followed Jiangxi Copper’s planned acquisition of Australian miner SolGold Plc last month and CMOC’s purchase of a Brazilian gold mine.

The flurry of Chinese deals is unfolding against a broader scramble for metal assets, intensified by the latest price rally. Copper has become a particular focus, with talks between Rio Tinto Group and Glencore Plc to create the world’s biggest mining company drawing intense attention.

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