By Forbes Staff,Yessar Rosendar
Copyright forbes
The Kamoa-Kakula mining complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines—controlled by billionaire Robert Friedland—has agreed to sell C$690 million ($500 million) of its shares to Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) as the company seeks to expands its copper output amid rising demand for the metals needed for electric vehicles and data centers.
Under the deal, the Toronto-listed company will sell 57.5 million shares at C$12 apiece to Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund via a private placement, Ivanhoe Mines said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“This landmark investment by the Qatar Investment Authority is a powerful endorsement of Ivanhoe Mines’ vision to be a leading supplier of critical metals that will drive the electrification of the global economy, development of new energy infrastructure, and growth of advanced technologies like large-scale data centres and AI,” Friedland, executive co-chair of Ivanhoe Mines said in the statement.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. After the completion of the investment, QIA will own around 4% of Ivanhoe Mines’ issued and outstanding common shares. Ivanhoe Mines will use the investment to grow its business in exploring, developing, and mining critical minerals, and for other general company needs.
Ivanhoe Mines—which counts China’s Citic Metal and Zijin Mining among its biggest investors—operates the Kamoa-Kakula mining complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the world’s biggest copper producers, and two other sites in South Africa. The company is exploring for new copper deposits in Angola, in the DRC’s Western Forelands, Kazakhstan, and Zambia amid soaring demand for the metal.
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“This strategic investment reflects QIA’s conviction not only in Ivanhoe Mines’ world-class portfolio of tier-one assets, but more importantly, in supporting its team in finding, developing, and sustainably supplying the critical minerals essential to the global energy transition and advanced technology applications,” Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of QIA said.
Friedland who is based in Singapore has an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion and is one of the wealthiest in the city-state. He made his fortune from Canadian nickel and is behind massive copper discoveries in Mongolia and the DRC. Friedland’s Ivanhoe Atlantic, formerly High Power Exploration, plans to invest $5 billion in infrastructure projects in Africa’s Liberty Corridor, connecting Guinea to Liberia.
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