On April 21, leading global metals miner Zijin released its first quarterly results since the formation of its new leadership team headed by Chairman Zou Laichang. The company’s first quarter 2026 profit topped the RMB 20 billion mark for the first time. Other core financial indicators also hit record highs, getting the company off to a strong start in the year:
- Revenue reached RMB 98.5 billion, up 25% year-on-year
- Net profit attributable to shareholders surged 98% to RMB 20.1 billion
- Net cash flow from operating activities jumped 122% to RMB 27.8 billion
Shaping the Next Phase of Growth
Zijin completed a smooth leadership transition on December 31, 2025. In January 2026, its market capitalization surpassed the RMB 1 trillion threshold, ranking it alongside BHP and Rio Tinto as one of the world’s top three mining companies.
As the company reached a trillion-yuan valuation, the new management team emerged as a central focus for stakeholders. The question was how they would steer Zijin forward on its global expansion path—navigating uncertainties while preserving its distinctive strengths.
Shortly after assuming his new role, Chairman Zou led the new team through a strategic review, drawing on the company’s 33-year entrepreneurial journey. They dissected what it truly means to be a top mining company, and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to a global strategy and to mining as its core business. They pledged to uphold Zijin’s signature innovation philosophy and corporate culture while sharpening its global competitive edge. Backed by rigorous industry analysis and strategic scenario projections, the team mapped out a more ambitious and demanding New Three-Year Plan and Ten-Year Vision.
Under the blueprint, Zijin aims to rank among the world’s top three producers of copper and gold by 2028, with certain indicators claiming the top spot globally by 2035 — delivering on the vision of becoming a “green, high-tech, top global mining company.”
Through the first quarter, Zijin maintained its trademark professional and efficient decision-making, pressing ahead with global strategy execution and acquisitions. It also issued a US$1.5 billion zero-coupon convertible H-share bond within a short timeframe, securing robust funding for further expansion worldwide.
As the company grows in size, it is unlocking fresh organizational vitality through deeper transformation. Since the start of 2026, stronger precision management, greater authority delegation, and optimized processes have empowered business divisions to act like business entities and “groups within a group”, boosting operational efficiency across the board. The company is now systematically optimizing its incentives framework — rewarding performance, promoting on merit — and stepping up the grooming of young talent to -support its global expansion.
Technology remains a fundamental lever for cost reduction and profitability gains. Zijin is further promoting its distinct “Integrated Five-Process Mining Operations Management Model,” embedding technological innovation deeper into production and operations while sustaining its low-cost and high-efficiency advantages. It is also pushing overall data management and standardization, advancing intelligent production projects, and building a global operations management agent — all aimed at forging world-leading digital and intelligent capabilities.
Boosting Production and Profitability from Core Commodities
A new bull cycle in non-ferrous metals — fueled by geopolitical realignment, the AI computing boom, and the U.S. rate-cutting cycle — has supercharged earnings across the sector. The new leadership made increasing production its overriding priority from day one to deliver a new round of leapfrog growth.
-Gold: Gold remains a core earnings driver. Following their acquisition last year, Akyem Gold Mine in Ghana and Raygorodok Gold Mine in Kazakhstan are progressively unlocking volumes, sustaining Zijin’s momentum by pushing Q1 mined gold output up 23% year-on-year to 23.5 tonnes. The company is targeting 105 tonnes of mined gold for full-year 2026.
Flagship operations — including Buriticá in Colombia, Rosebel in Suriname, and Longnan Zijin and Shanxi Zijin in China — achieved maximum production and sales in the quarter.
-Copper: It’s widely recognized that AI’s ultimate thirst is for power, and power’s is for copper. While copper prices haven’t matched gold’s spectacular run, a deepening supply-demand imbalance has kept them elevated — three-month LME copper prices surged over 40% in 2025. Zijin produced 260,000 tonnes of mined copper in the first quarter. Except for a production reduction at the Kamoa Copper Mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, all other mines stayed on track.
The Phase II expansion at the Julong Copper Mine in Xizang, commissioned in January 2026, is undergoing ramp-up. The mine produced 60,000 tonnes of copper in the first quarter and is expected to deliver 300,000–350,000 tonnes annually at full capacity. Major copper operations — including Serbia Zijin, Serbia Zijin Copper, COMMUS in the DRC, and Duobaoshan Copper in Heilongjiang — also recorded significant profit gains. For 2026, Zijin is targeting 1.2 million tonnes of mined copper.
Lithium Rising as the Third Growth Pillar
As disclosed in company announcements, lithium is rapidly emerging as Zijin’s “third growth pillar,” with first-quarter lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) output reaching 16,000 tonnes.
Since 2021, Zijin has capitalized on the tectonic shifts in metal demand triggered by the global energy transition. A string of acquisitions has built a lithium portfolio of “two salars and two hard-rock mines” with over 18 million tonnes of LCE reserves, placing the company firmly in the global top tier.
After a steep correction to historic lows over 2024 and 2025, lithium prices are now finding strong support from demand driven by the energy storage boom and steady growth in the electric-vehicle market.
Lithium miners sit at the sweet spot of the price increase. Lithium prices have kept climbing since early 2026, lifting earnings across the industry. During the lithium market downturn, Zijin advanced project construction, de-bottlenecking and cost-control measures. As prices enter a new upcycle, the company's Lakkor Tso Salar in Xizang, Tres Quebradas Salar in Argentina, and Xiangyuan Lithium Mine in Hunan — all began production in 2025 — are steadily ramping up capacity. Zijin’s average LCE selling price climbed to RMB 101,456 per tonne in the first quarter, up from RMB 60,333 per tonne in Q4 2025, while gross margin surged by approximately 37 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 61%.
Meanwhile, at the world-class Manono Northeast Lithium Project in the DRC, mine construction is progressing steadily, with the main mining and processing (heavy media separation) flow now fully established and reliable. Commissioning is expected in June this year.
Zijin targets 120,000 tonnes of LCE production in 2026, scaling to 270,000–320,000 tonnes by 2028. Once achieved, the company would rank among the world’s largest lithium producers and its lithium segment would emerge as a core profit driver.