Key Takeaways:
Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. (02259.HK) shares fell 4.11% in Hong Kong trading, even as the company reported that first-quarter net profit surged 385.5% from a year earlier on the back of soaring gold prices and a massive ramp-up in its lithium business.
Zijin’s management has explicitly positioned its burgeoning lithium segment as the "third pillar" core profit source after copper and gold, according to the company’s latest report. The strategic shift is designed to diversify its revenue streams and capture growth in the electric vehicle supply chain.
The producer’s net profit for the first quarter of 2026 spiked to $807 million, while revenue jumped 137.8% year-over-year to $2.057 billion. The growth was primarily fueled by its gold and lithium divisions. Mine-produced gold output rose 23% to 23,497 kg, with the segment’s gross margin expanding from 52.91% to 69.6% as the average realized gold price climbed by approximately 65%. The lithium business saw production of lithium carbonate equivalent expand by more than tenfold to 16,229 metric tons, achieving a gross margin of 61.44%.
The negative stock reaction suggests investors are looking past the headline figures and focusing on a notable drop in the company's copper output. Production in the copper segment fell to 259,214 metric tons from 287,571 in the prior year, dragged down by a more than 50% plunge in equity production from the Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The operational miss in a core division appears to have overshadowed the strong performance in gold and lithium, creating a classic "sell the news" event where the positive earnings were already priced in by the market.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
