With global gold production stabilizing at 2018 levels and new exploration lagging, a number of miners with aging assets is looking for mergers and acquisitions opportunities for further growth.
China’s Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co. scouts for acquisitions around the world, though recent price volatility due to global trade turmoil dampens prospects for deals.
There are plenty of projects in the market that owners are willing to sell, according to Lydia Yang, CEO of the company known as Chifeng Gold. This year, she noted, there have been more acquisition opportunities than before.
The miner rapidly expands both domestically and internationally and is the country’s largest non-state-owned producer. Combined annual output of the precious metal at its five mines in China and one each in Ghana and Laos rose to 15.2 tonnes last year, up from about 2 tonnes in 2019.
Miners in China, the world’s No. 1 gold producer, are increasingly vying with international heavyweights for overseas deals. Chifeng Gold listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March, raising $361 million. Its shares have since risen 80%.
Along with China’s CMOC Group, Australia’s Northern Star Resources Ltd. and South Africa’s Gold Fields Ltd. have been among the latest buyers of smaller companies.
The value of done and proposed precious metals deals has risen by nearly a quarter in 2024, accounting for more than half of the total deal value in the metals sector, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Hélène Tarin, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
