The Veliki Krivelj mine, operated by Zijin Mining Group in Serbia, in September 2023. Zijin Mining digs up gold, copper and lithium across multiple continents.
Photographer: Oliver Bunic/BloombergChina’s Fast-Growing Copper Champion Is Reshaping Global Metal Supply
Zijin Mining is vying with the largest Western producers for a spot among the top ranks, even as geopolitical tensions worsen
Chen Jinghe was not long out of university when a government official handed him the assignment that would change his life. Go to Zijin mountain, he was told, and find gold.
It was 1982, and the geology graduate found himself on forested slopes in the remote, humid highlands of southeastern China. The bet paid off. The deposit his team eventually discovered became the nation’s biggest gold mine — and the foundation for a $67 billion state-owned behemoth that is today driving copper supply growth and gaining ground on some of the most established names in the global resources industry.