Author: Zhang Tingwen

Image source: Figure worm creative

recently, a transaction announcement of Xinjiang public resources trading network has attracted attention. 24.50 of the shares of Xinjiang Huoshaoyun lead and zinc mine co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinjiang Huoshaoyun") will be transferred, with a reserve price of 3 billion yuan. the listing start and end time is from may 6 to may 30, 2024.

Xinjiang Huoshao Cloud has the largest lead-zinc deposit discovered in China at present-Huoshao Cloud Lead-Zinc Mine. This equity transfer involves the mining rights of Huoshao Cloud Lead-Zinc Mine in Hotan County, Xinjiang and the prospecting rights of Huoshao Cloud Lead-Zinc Mine in Hotan County, Xinjiang (Area 1), (Area 2) and (Area 3). In January last year, the mine was auctioned for 25 billion yuan to "spend" Xinjiang Geology and Mineral Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinjiang Geology and Mineral").

at that time, Zijin mining (601899.SH) affiliated company also participated in the auction, but lost with a price difference of 1 billion yuan. And this equity transfer, the conditions are more stringent than at the time of the auction. Under screening, even Zijin Mining is hard to get "admission tickets.

So, who else can take a partial stake in Xinjiang Huoshuang Cloud and share the capital "feast" of the country's largest lead-zinc mine?

Strict conditions for equity transfer

in January 2023, the largest lead-zinc deposit currently discovered in China-huoshoyun lead-zinc ore was auctioned for 25 billion yuan.

Xinjiang Huoshan was established on January 27, 2023. It is the main body of the company set up by Xinjiang Geomines for the development of Huoshan lead-zinc mine, with a registered capital of 9 billion yuan and 40 employees.

Enterprise audit data show that in the first half of 2023 and the whole year of 2023, Xinjiang Huoshan's revenue was 0 yuan and 0.146 billion yuan respectively, and its net profit was a loss of 2.1569 million yuan and a profit of 16.4963 million yuan respectively. As of the end of June 2023, the owner's equity of Xinjiang Fire Cloud was -2.1569 million yuan; as of the end of 2023, its owner's equity increased to 0.117 billion yuan.

the latest corporate financial statement data show that in the first quarter of 2024, Xinjiang Huoju Cloud had no revenue for the time being, and its net profit was a loss of 46.7319 million yuan. As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, its total assets were 8.802 billion yuan, its total liabilities were 8.732 billion yuan, and its owner's equity was 70.2382 million yuan.

and according to the appraisal of Zhonglian Asset Appraisal Group Co., Ltd., as of the end of June 2023, Xinjiang Huoyun had total assets of 33.571 billion yuan, total liabilities of 21.348 billion yuan and net assets of 12.222 billion yuan. The corresponding appraisal value of part of the subject matter of this transfer (24.50% equity) is 2.995 billion yuan.

as in last year's auction, this equity transfer involves the mining rights of Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine in Hotan County, Xinjiang and the prospecting rights of Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine in Hotan County, Xinjiang (area 1), (area 2) and (area 3).

according to Xinjiang daily, Xinjiang geology and mineral resources invested more than 1800 million yuan in geological exploration funds in Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine in 2023, completed drilling 5680.45 meters, troughed 6436.36 cubic meters, and added more than 2 million tons of zinc + lead metal. Therefore, the amount of zinc + lead metal in the three prospecting rights of Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine has exceeded 21 million tons, making it the sixth largest lead-zinc mine in the world.

The announcement pointed out that the current mining method is open-pit mining, the production scale is 2.5 million tons/year, the mining area is 6.5955 square kilometers, and the validity period of the mining right license is 15 years, that is, from June 15, 2023 to 2038 On June 15, the validity period of the prospecting right license is from May 22, 2023 to March 23, 2023.

Compared with last year's auction, the reserves of this "attractive" mine have greatly increased, and the conditions for "obtaining" it have become more stringent.

The qualification requirements for last year's auction are that the bidder has a registered capital of more than 10 billion yuan (inclusive), does not accept consortium bids, has large-scale mineral resources exploration and development capabilities and corresponding performance capabilities, and has no mining rights bidding and breach of contract. There are no major violations of laws and regulations in business activities.

the conditions for this equity transfer clearly point out that the intended transferee is required to engage in the development of relevant mineral resources, mining investment and construction, and areas related to the upstream and downstream industries of mining, and in 2023, the total assets are more than 200 billion yuan, the net assets are more than 150 billion yuan, and the net profit is more than 15 billion yuan.

at the same time, it is also required to pay a deposit of 0.9 billion yuan, a sincerity fund of 0.5 billion yuan, not included in the list of abnormal business operations and the list of serious illegal and dishonest enterprises.

how difficult is it to reach this condition? time finance screened the listed companies of mining industry in a shares with the conditions of total assets of 200 billion yuan and above and net profit of 15 billion yuan and above.

among them, only Sinopec (600028.SH), Yankuang energy (600188.SH), CNOOC (600938.SH), China Shenhua (601088.SH), PetroChina (601857.SH), China coal energy (601898.SH) and Zijin mining meet the standards. And only Zijin Mining belongs to non-ferrous metal mining and dressing industry, the rest are oil and coal industries.

Who can enter?

But even Zijin Mining does not meet the condition of net assets of more than 150 billion yuan last year. In 2023, Zijin Mining's net assets were 138.363 billion yuan.

It can be seen that the transfer of shares in Xinjiang Huoshaoyun has a high threshold and strict conditions. Although there are still 19 days left in the registration time, the listed companies in the non-ferrous metal mining and dressing industry have been "wiped out". Who else can enter?

if you refer to the list of the top 50 non-ferrous metal enterprises with net profit in 2022 released by the non-ferrous metals industry association (the 2023 list has not yet been released), you can find that in the list, only Tianqi lithium industry (002466.SZ), Zijin mining, aluminum industry of China, ganfeng lithium industry (002460.SZ), daqo energy (688303.SH) and Xinfa group can meet the net profit.

Among them, Tianqi Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium and Daqo Energy are not involved in lead-zinc mining business, and Zijin Mining has not reached the threshold due to insufficient net assets. Or only Chalco Group and Xinfa Group can get the "admission ticket" to buy a 24.50 per cent stake in Xinjiang Huoshaoyun ".

in 2023, chinalco group had a revenue of 449.668 billion yuan and a net profit of 19.353 billion yuan. As of the end of 2023, its owner's equity totaled 235.352 billion yuan and its assets totaled 616.571 billion yuan.

On May 11, Times Finance called Aluminum Corporation of China and its subsidiary Aluminum Corporation of China (601600.SH). All relevant people expressed "unclear" about the equity transfer ".

According to the recruitment information of many universities this year, Xinfa Group's main business income in 2023 was 290.7 billion yuan, its profit was 20.1 billion yuan, and its total assets were more than 3000 billion yuan.

Xinfa Group was established in 2007. Tianyan investigation shows that Xinfa Group is controlled by Zhang Gang's family through chiping Xinyou Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "chiping Xinyou"). Zhang Gang's family also topped Shandong's richest man again on March 25 this year.

From the perspective of business layout, the lead and zinc business of Aluminum Corporation of China is mainly held by Yunye Group and Yuntong Group, which are controlled by China Copper, and are mainly located in Yunnan.

And Zhang Gang has long been operating in the Xinjiang region. According to Tianyan, Xinjiang Jiaxin Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiaxin Energy") now benefits from Zhang Gang, with a shareholding ratio of 89.91 per cent.

At the beginning of the establishment of Schwab Energy in 2017, Xinjiang Energy (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinjiang Energy Group", which is a state-owned background in Xinjiang) was among the sponsors, with a subscribed capital contribution of 0.243 billion yuan, and then in 2021 Withdrawing, the shareholding ratio was as high as 81% at the time of withdrawal.

Xinjiang energy group also participated in the auction of Huoshaoyun lead-zinc mine in January last year. it plans to contribute 22.3 billion yuan, ranking third among the bidders. both the Xinjiang geology and mineral resources that won the bid are from Xinjiang's state-owned assets.

Times Finance and Economics noted that since Xinjiang Energy Group withdrew from Schwab Energy, Zhang Yongsheng, a senior executive in several affiliated enterprises of Xinjiang Energy Group, was still in charge of finance at Schwab Energy until February 29, 2024, when the person in charge of finance at Schwab Energy was changed to Sun Lei.

In addition, Xinjiang Agricultural Sixth Division Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Bingzhun Xinhong Energy Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Agricultural Sixth Division Aluminum Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Changxin Hongyuan Oil and Gas Exploitation Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Fengyuan Xinmao Mining Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Bingzhun New Materials Co., Ltd. are all members of Zhang Gang's chiping Xinyou.