He, the "invisible mining king" worth 500 billion, is far from satisfied.

For a long time, the "invisible mining king" who had been out of the public eye has been making continuous moves in 2025.

In 2025, gold saw its largest increase since 1979. At the end of the year, futures gold and spot gold once approached $4,600 per ounce. During the outbreak of this market trend, CMOC Group completed the acquisition and delivery of four gold mines in Brazil within 40 days. Coupled with the Kaigehaosi Gold Mine in Ecuador acquired earlier, this Henan mining giant mainly engaged in copper, cobalt, molybdenum, etc., quickly entered the gold mine track.

In the 2025 financial report, the company's annual profit entered the range of 20 billion yuan for the first time, refreshing the historical record for five consecutive years. Its stock price soared more than three times within a year, and its market value reached a peak of 550 billion yuan.

This company is extremely "low - key". Apart from the official announcements, more information about it comes from industry rumors. The outside world has always been curious: Where on earth does it come from?

Especially the boss behind the company - Yu Yong. He doesn't hold any position in CMOC Group. The most frequently mentioned in public information is his early work experience in a paper mill. People close to CMOC Group said bluntly: They don't know much about him.

But it was indeed him who pulled CMOC Group back from the brink of bankruptcy and then completed a thorough transformation. Looking back afterwards, he has extremely strong capital layout ability. At multiple critical nodes, he completed high - leverage mergers and acquisitions. Most of the acquired assets were considered to have high development difficulties, but they were finally successfully "digested".

Although it is named "CMOC Group", its business map has already extended to minerals such as copper, cobalt, and lithium. Moreover, most of the new businesses are obtained through mergers and acquisitions, which is fundamentally different from the traditional model of mining enterprises mainly relying on self - exploration.

Source: CMOC Group official website

Last year, when it suddenly entered the gold track, it was the same approach. While the market was in awe, similar comments like "The global mining hunter has made another accurate move" frequently appeared on social media.

According to media reports, people familiar with the matter once evaluated the difference between Yu Yong and most mining bosses: He considers the industry from an investment perspective and is a person with financial and spot trading thinking.

CMOC Group replied to "China Entrepreneur": 60% of the cost advantage is determined by resource endowment, and strategic mergers and acquisitions determine the company's lifeline and genes; 20% depends on the project planning and construction level to achieve the optimal cost throughout the life cycle; 20% is determined by the daily operation and management ability. This is called the "622 model" internally.

"Mining terminal products have no brand value, and the competition lies in price. The essence of mining competition is cost competition, which is a contest of systematic capabilities based on resource endowment." CMOC Group said. This also corresponds to what was said in the board of directors' speech of CMOC Group this year, "The construction plan should focus on the optimal cost throughout the life cycle, and calculate the overall and big accounts."

Traditional industries are always vigilant against "capital games", but the changes of CMOC Group in the past 20 years seem to be breaking this prejudice. Different from the annual reports of most listed companies, the writing style of CMOC Group is plain and simple, and fashionable words such as "subvert", "ecosystem", and "empower" are not used. The management, including Yu Yong, rarely appears in public.

It can be foreseen that after having more resources globally, Yu Yong will continue to expand his territory. He is a manager with a strong sense of purpose and fighting desire.

In 2012, when CMOC Group just started global mine acquisitions, for a copper mine project in Australia, the other party rejected the offer. After that, Yu Yong decided to launch a "hostile takeover" - bypass the board of directors and directly submit a takeover offer to the shareholders. Although the project was not successful in the end, it was enough to show his style.

In the "Top 50 Global Mining Companies" list of the industry media Mining.com, CMOC Group has surpassed many international mining giants with its performance in recent quarters and has stably ranked around the 11th place. A market value of "60 billion US dollars" is the threshold for the top ten. For Yu Yong, it is already "just one step away".

The "Invisible Mining King"

Yu Yong is known as the "invisible mining king" in the industry. He doesn't hold any position in CMOC Group and didn't even show up at the listing ringing - the - bell ceremony. It is his younger brother Yu Bo, who serves as the chairman of the board, that represents Hongshang Group (the controlling shareholder of CMOC Group, hereinafter referred to as "Hongshang") externally.

When Yu Yong had an intersection with CMOC Group, the company was in a desperate situation: Facing the cyclical fluctuations, it suffered serious losses. Nearly half of the more than 6,000 workers were on leave, and it was even difficult to pay the on - the - job workers a monthly salary of 400 yuan. It was put on the stage of the mixed - ownership reform and began to introduce social capital.

Molybdenum, due to its characteristics such as high melting point, hardness, toughness, and resistance to oxidation, is widely used in industrial manufacturing, agriculture, medical care and other fields, and is also known as the "industrial monosodium glutamate". And Luanchuan, where the headquarters of CMOC Group is located, has the world's largest molybdenum ore reserves and is known as the "Molybdenum Capital of China".

According to media reports, giants such as Fosun Group and Zijin Mining have all targeted this "fat piece of meat". At that time, Hongshang's main business was industrial investment and investment management. This Shanghai - based company was not eye - catching among the suitors.

Unexpectedly, Yu Yong finally won. In 2004, Hongshang acquired 49% of the equity of CMOC Group for 178 million yuan, of which more than 40 million yuan was used to compensate laid - off employees. Multiple industry sources said that his offer was not the highest at that time, but the conditions he offered were the most "sincere": not seeking control. Since then, Hongshang and the local state - owned assets, along with Luoyang Mining Group Co., Ltd. holding 51% of the shares, formed a parallel share - holding pattern.

Hongshang launched a series of reforms on CMOC Group: shutting down inefficient affiliated factories and focusing on the main business; introducing advanced foreign flotation technology to greatly improve the recovery rate of molybdenum; and at the same time, bypassing middlemen and directly establishing sales channels with European steel giants. In just one year, CMOC Group turned losses into profits, achieving a profit of 280 million yuan. In 2006, the profit soared to 1.714 billion yuan, making it the "profit king" in the domestic molybdenum industry.

In 2007, CMOC Group was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; in 2012, it was listed on the A - share market and launched the second - round mixed - ownership reform. During this period, CMOC Group did not announce new strategic actions and business structures, and Yu Yong's "presence" was always not strong.

It was not until 2014 that Hongshang began to make a large - scale "offensive". That year, it completed multiple capital increases in the secondary market, and its shareholding ratio exceeded that of the original controlling shareholder, Luoyang Mining Group. Yu Yong became the actual controller of CMOC Group.

The outside world is used to using words like "lying low for ten years" to describe this story, but this cannot summarize his whole journey. Before that, he had re - planned the path for CMOC Group based on the accurate judgment of the cycle, enabling CMOC Group to take a seat at the "main table" more than a decade later.

Hitting the Rhythm

In 2008, the prices in the global metal market continued to fall, and the internal profits of CMOC Group were also rapidly compressed. By 2012, the total profit had decreased by 40% year - on - year. And this long - lasting bear market in global commodities lasted until 2018.

From 2007 to 2012 was the first wave of overseas expansion of domestic mining enterprises. When it was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, CMOC Group also formulated a global - oriented plan, but Yu Yong didn't take any action for a long time. It is rumored that the internal judgment was that the winter of the mining industry was coming.

In 2013, the global mining industry was still in a downturn, and the entire market was in a state of desolation. International mining giants even had to sell their core assets. However, Yu Yong took action at this time - CMOC Group acquired the NPM copper - gold mine in Australia from the mining giant Rio Tinto Group for 820 million US dollars. At that time, CMOC Group's annual net profit was in the order of 1 billion yuan. Swallowing Australia's fourth - largest copper - gold mine shocked the industry.

But Yu Yong quickly pressed the pause button. CMOC Group spent three years to "digest" the NPM copper - gold mine. By 2015, this project could contribute 42% of the company's total profit.

In 2016, the international mining industry reached the recognized freezing point, and Yu Yong began to get restless again.

According to media reports, at the board meeting that year, Li Zhaochun, the then chairman of CMOC Group, used Charles Dickens' famous quote to describe that moment: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." This was regarded as a clear offensive signal.

Sure enough, in that year, CMOC Group successively made two major acquisitions: acquiring the niobium and phosphorus projects in Brazil of the global mining giant Anglo American plc for 1.5 billion US dollars; and spending 2.65 billion US dollars to acquire a 56% stake in the Tenke copper - cobalt mine project (TFM) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from Freeport - McMoRan Inc.

The transactions were quickly completed, and CMOC Group didn't encounter much resistance. Freeport - McMoRan Inc. was burdened with more than 20 billion US dollars in debt due to the sharp drop in copper prices and was forced to sell its core assets. However, at that time, there was no sign of recovery in the bulk market, and these projects were considered to have high development difficulties.

The most crucial thing is that these two acquisitions were "non - mainstream" in the market at that time. The targets of overseas acquisitions by domestic enterprises were concentrated in common varieties such as iron, copper, lead - zinc, uranium, and gold, especially iron mines. And the cobalt that CMOC Group heavily invested in was definitely an unpopular metal.

But it was later proven that he accurately hit the rhythm of the cycle. Cobalt is the core raw material of ternary batteries and is scarce in global reserves. The grade of the TFM mine far exceeds the industry average, making it a world - class high - quality mine.

Shortly after the acquisition was completed, the global new - energy vehicle industry exploded. The price of cobalt doubled in 2017, and the copper price increased by 30%. The TFM mine has since become the "cash cow" of CMOC Group. In 2020, it also acquired a 95% stake in the adjacent KFM copper - cobalt mine for 550 million US dollars.

Looking back, this may be directly related to its early strong "binding" with CATL. In 2016, before CATL was listed, the Hongshang system invested 6 million yuan to participate in its capital increase. Later, through methods such as bond subscription, it held more than 20 million shares in total. In 2022, CATL acquired the equity held by Luoyang Mining Group through its wholly - owned subsidiary, thus indirectly becoming the second - largest shareholder of CMOC Group.

Similarly benefiting from the wave of lithium batteries, Yu Yong avoided the crowded lithium - mine track. According to statistics, in 2017 alone, domestic enterprises carried out nearly 20 overseas lithium - mine resource projects. At that stage, the industry consensus was that controlling lithium resources meant controlling the lifeline of the development of new - energy vehicles.

However, the price of battery - grade lithium carbonate experienced a "roller - coaster" in 2023 - plummeting from more than 500,000 yuan per ton at the beginning of the year to about 100,000 yuan per ton at the end of the year. Industry leaders Ganfeng Lithium Co., Ltd. and Tianqi Lithium Corporation suffered huge losses in 2023 and 2024.

The situation of CMOC Group is much better. With the rapid increase in cobalt production since 2023, it has become the world's largest cobalt producer, and its global production share has increased from about 10% to nearly 40%. It has an almost "quasi - monopoly" position in the market and has strong bargaining power when facing downstream customers.

There is also the heavily - invested copper. With the gradual commissioning of the TFM mine and the KFM mine, CMOC Group's copper production increased from 210,000 tons in 2020 to 650,000 tons in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of up to 32.1%. It has also entered the list of the top ten copper producers in the world. The copper price has performed well in recent years, and the business gross profit margin is as high as 50%. Last year, its copper product business achieved an annual revenue of 55.096 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of more than 30%.

In the era of "lithium mines being king", CMOC Group was not eye - catching, and the outside world even didn't understand its investment logic, but it finally achieved a overtaking on a curve. In the "Hurun Rich List 2025" announced in October 2025, Yu Yong ranked 46th on the list with a fortune of 95 billion yuan.

Management Tools

Li Zhaochun once told the media: "How to use our capital and how to build the capital structure to acquire and control first - class or even world - class resource projects at different stages of the industry cycle is a strategic issue that we have been thinking deeply about."

Looking back from the results, an important tool is the business model of "mining + trading", which is also the biggest difference between CMOC Group and other mining companies.

In 2019, CMOC Group spent about 500 million US dollars to acquire IXM (Eckson), the world's third - largest base - metal trading company. Its business map has extended from simple mineral exploitation to the core network of global metal trading.

The primary value of IXM is risk hedging and price smoothing. The advantage of a trading company is that it always has spot goods and can make delivery upon maturity without being forced to sell assets before maturity. In addition, the company can also conduct arbitrage and hedging between spot and futures to ensure profitability during the rapidly fluctuating mineral prices and the long production period.

This is also a cash - flow business. Moreover, IXM has access to real - time global supply - demand, inventory, logistics, and policy - change data, which provides a decision - making basis for mine expansion or production reduction. For example, in 2023, based on IXM's early warning of copper surplus, CMOC Group postponed part of the investment in the second - phase of the KFM mine. IXM also predicted the explosion of lithium demand and promoted CMOC Group to jointly bid for a Bolivian salt - lake project with CATL.

Finally, in terms of sales channels, all products from CMOC Group's own mines are sold externally through IXM, avoiding dependence on a third - party trading company and being pressured on price or having the supply cut off. At the same time, for special minerals such as cobalt, IXM can directly connect with downstream battery manufacturers, skipping middlemen and increasing the profit per ton.

Li Zhaochun once mentioned: "The mining industry is a quasi - financial and quasi - investment industry." And CMOC Group is more like a global resource investment and operation platform, enabling it to quickly complete "replication" when facing opportunities