Chinese mining company, one of the world's most valuable mining businesses. It is the world's sixth-biggest producer of gold and fifth of copper. Founded in 1993 when officials in Shanghang county, in the south-eastern province of Fujian, enlisted Chen Jinghe, a geologist, to develop a local gold mine. Mr Chen retired in 2026.
Zijin's growth has been driven by an ambitious strategy of global expansion over the past decade. Its mining operations span 18 countries. Between 2015 and 2025 it poured $26bn into capital expenditures and made $15bn-worth of acquisitions. In January 2026 it announced its biggest deal yet, the purchase of Allied Gold, a Canadian miner, for $4bn. Its market value surged in 2025, lifted by soaring prices of gold and copper.
Zijin has set itself the goal of ranking among the world's top three producers of both copper (which accounts for two-thirds of the net value of its assets) and gold (which makes up a quarter) by 2028. In February 2026 it released a production plan to boost output of both minerals by as much as a half over the next three years, and expand lithium output more than tenfold.
The company has "gone where others won't go", according to James Whiteside of Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy. Even in 2016, when copper prices were at their lowest since the global financial crisis, Zijin was acquiring stakes in copper mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that others were selling off. As it bought up mines, Zijin often expanded their production several times over. Around half of its mining of both copper and gold now takes place outside China.
Zijin has also built a vast refining and smelting business that generates about a quarter of its operating profits. Many Western miners have shied away from processing, which is dirty, complex and typically not very profitable. But Zijin's acquisition of top-grade overseas mines has made the activity more lucrative. It constructs facilities at many of its overseas mines for initial processing, then ships semi-processed rock back to China for further treatment, saving on transport costs. It also processes copper and gold supplied by other miners, providing greater economies of scale. End products—typically copper cathodes and gold bars—are then sold by Zijin's trading arm.
To fund its expansion Zijin has had to borrow heavily. In 2010 the ratio of its debt to its assets was 21%; in the first half of 2025 the figure was 38%, far higher than for the big Western miners. In September 2025 it consolidated its international gold mines into a subsidiary and listed a roughly 15% stake in the unit in Hong Kong, raising HK$25bn ($3.2bn).
In 2010 a toxic leak from a wastewater pond at a mine in Fujian province contaminated the nearby Ting River. More recently, villagers in Bor, Serbia, have complained of environmental damage caused by Zijin's mine there; the company has denied the allegations.
The Chinese state does not hold a majority interest in Zijin, as it does in many of the country's other big miners, but Shanghang county has maintained a sizeable stake, raising questions about the company's independence. In 2025 it was added to the American government's entity list for allegedly benefiting from forced labour in China's Xinjiang region, which the company has denied.
There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.