U.S. lawmaker questions Ivanhoe Atlantic’s China ties

A senior American politician is pressing the State Department over what he calls troubling links between Ivanhoe Atlantic and Chinese state interests.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House committee focused on China, said the department has backed companies with “concerning ties” to the Chinese Communist Party. He named Ivanhoe Atlantic as one example and pointed to what he called its “well-documented” connections to Chinese state-owned enterprises.

Ivanhoe Atlantic’s majority shareholder is I-Pulse Inc., a U.S. firm founded and chaired by mining billionaire Robert Friedland, who also founded and co-chairs Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN). Since 2018, Ivanhoe Mines has sold portions of its holdings to Chinese groups CITIC and Zijin Mining, which together owned about 40% of the copper miner as of 2020.

Moolenaar linked those relationships to a $1.8 billion infrastructure agreement signed in July between Ivanhoe Mines and Liberia to rehabilitate a key rail line used to ship iron ore from Guinea. He argued the deal advanced China’s influence in West Africa and said some US officials pushed it in ways that undercut American strategic interests.

He wrote that he supports expanding U.S. commercial activity in Africa but wants to ensure “commercial diplomacy is free from entanglements with the CCP.”

Separate entities

Ivanhoe Atlantic rejected the allegations, noting the company and Ivanhoe Mines are completely separate entities. It also said its iron ore project in Guinea is intended to counter China’s tightening control over critical minerals in the Simandou region. The company said all future production is earmarked for U.S. and allied supply chains. CEO Bronwyn Barnes said none of the ore will be exported through China’s Trans-Guinean Railway.

Political allies of Donald Trump have also raised similar concerns. Far-right political activist Laura Loomer urged senior Republicans in July to intervene. She shared an article that accused U.S. officials of pushing Liberia to transfer control of the Yekepa-to-Buchanan railway from ArcelorMittal to Ivanhoe Atlantic.

Ivanhoe Atlantic called attempts to link the two companies “grossly incorrect and misleading” in comments to Reuters. Ivanhoe Mines did not respond to requests for comment.

Rep. Moolenaar, who described Ivanhoe Mines and Ivanhoe Atlantic as sister companies, argues that minority stakes held by CITIC and Zijin in Ivanhoe Mines illustrate how China secures access to critical minerals through indirect investment.

The lawmaker noted that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has deemed CITIC’s telecom services a national security risk and that Zijin was added this year to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list.