Second acquisition within the year! Shengtuo Mining plans to invest 2.15 billion yuan to accelerate the copper-cobalt resource layout in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In recent years, the difficulty of acquiring overseas copper-cobalt mine resources has increased, and competition has become fierce. Focused on new energy metals, Shengtun Mining Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shengtun Mining,” 600711.SH) still intends to strengthen its control over new energy metal resources, and its strategic layout in the copper-cobalt resource sector in Congo (DRC) has taken another step forward.

On the evening of April 7, Shengtun Mining announced that its wholly owned subsidiaries Hongsheng International and Preeminence recently signed agreements with Novel Mining and Nkoyi, companies based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Preeminence plans to acquire a 50% stake in Nkoyi for USD 300 million to obtain rights to indirectly hold certain copper-cobalt mining rights through Nkoyi.

According to the transaction details disclosed in the announcement, after the completion of this acquisition, Shengtun Mining will indirectly enjoy 50% of the 60% rights to specific copper-cobalt mining rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo held by Nkoyi, totaling a 30% stake in the mining rights. After the transaction is completed, Nkoyi will become an equity affiliate of Shengtun Mining and will not be consolidated into the company’s financial statements. The remaining 40% of the rights to this copper-cobalt mine are held by the State Mining Corporation of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The target mine is located on the western outskirts of Kolwezi City, Congo (DRC), in the core area of Central Africa’s copper-cobalt belt. The mining area covers 10.922 square kilometers, with the mining rights valid from November 18, 2025, to January 13, 2040. The mine has not yet been put into production and is currently in exploration and preliminary construction stages.

The announcement states that, based on estimates by Shengtun Mining’s technical experts using drilling data, the average copper grade of the target mine is 1.66%, and the average cobalt grade is 0.67%. It is classified as a high-grade copper-cobalt deposit, with copper resource reserves expected to significantly exceed the standards of large domestic copper mines, and it is accompanied by substantial cobalt resources, showing significant potential for resource expansion. The future mining method will mainly be open-pit.

Shengtun Mining is a well-established listed company on the A-shares market. Its predecessor was the Xiamen Electrical Equipment Factory founded in 1975. In 1992, it was restructured into Xiamen Longzhou Industrial Co., Ltd., and in 1996, it was listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (initially called “Longzhou Shares”). In 1998, the then 31-year-old Yao Xiongjie from Longyan, Fujian, became the controlling shareholder through Xiong Zhen Investment. Starting in 2008, the company gradually transitioned into mining, and in 2011, it officially changed its name to Shengtun Mining.

Yao Xiongjie has continuously expanded through acquisitions via Shengtun Mining, acquiring multiple domestic and international mining assets, which have enabled Shengtun Mining to accumulate resources such as zinc, lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. Notably, in 2016, Yao Xiongjie also acquired control of Weihuashares through a combination of equity transfer and participation in a private placement, and in 2019, he injected Shengtun Lithium into Weihuashares, renaming it Shengxin Lithium Energy, thus entering the new energy sector.

Public information shows that Shengtun Mining has been deploying in the Congo (DRC) market since 2016. It has established a complete integrated layout of copper-cobalt resources and smelting locally, forming a full industry chain covering mining, smelting, and processing. The company has three major copper-cobalt smelting plants in the Congo (DRC) region: CCR, CCM, and KMSA, forming a scaled smelting cluster.

According to the latest announcement, the geographic advantage of the mineral rights being acquired is significant. It is only 20 kilometers north of Shengtun Mining’s own CCR and CCM smelting plants, and 51 kilometers southwest of the KMSA smelting plant. This convenient location will effectively reduce raw material transportation costs and improve operational efficiency. According to preliminary plans, the mining infrastructure construction period is expected to be 18 months, with a production capacity period of 24 months. Subsequently, Shengtun Mining will share the investment costs for mine construction proportionally based on its 30% stake.

It is worth noting that in February of this year, Shengtun Mining completed the acquisition of 100% equity of Canadian Loncor Resources for CAD 261 million (about RMB 1.35 billion), mainly producing gold.

In 2025, Shengtun Mining’s revenue was RMB 30B, an increase of 16.60% year-on-year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB 1.96B, a decrease of 2.19% year-on-year. Among the main business revenues, copper products ranked first with RMB 14.07B, zinc products came second with RMB 6.47B, nickel products third with RMB 4.29B, trading services and others totaled RMB 3.79B, and cobalt materials products amounted to RMB 1.01B.

In the first quarter of this year, the company expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company between RMB 950 million and RMB 1.15 billion, representing an increase of 226.27% to 294.95% compared to the same period last year (based on statutory disclosure data). Shengtun Mining states that during the reporting period, the copper-cobalt project in Congo (DRC) achieved year-on-year growth in copper production, and copper prices remained at historically high levels, rising compared to the same period last year.

As of the close on April 8, Shengtun Mining’s stock price was RMB 14.47, up 7.03%, with a latest market value of RMB 44.72B.