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According to a Bloomberg report, Chen’s retirement announcement came from a Saturday exchange filing, where he declined renomination to the board for “age and family reasons.” As of writing, the company has not yet chosen a successor.
Chen, a trained geologist, founded the company in the 1980s with a small gold deposit in Southeastern China.
Under his leadership, Zijin pursued an aggressive expansion strategy anchored on gold and copper, transforming a provincial operation into a global competitor.
The group’s market value surpassed US$100 billion for the first time this year, placing it behind only BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) among publicly listed miners.
In the filing, Chen said it was “the best time to transition to a new leadership,” adding that a company with lasting success should evolve from being “founder-driven” to “institution-driven.”
The leadership change also caps a year shaped by both financial and organizational milestones.
In late September, Zijin’s Shanghai-listed shares closed at an all-time high, lifting its market capitalization to about US$132.4 billion and reinforcing its status as one of the most valuable mining companies globally.
Zijin Gold went public in Hong Kong in a blockbuster offering in late September after a one day postponement caused by Super Typhoon Ragasa. Priced at HK$71.59 per share, the initial public offering raised nearly HK$25 billion, making it the world’s second-largest listing of 2025.
The stock soared more than 60 percent on its debut, buoyed by gold prices that hit new peaks on the same day. Spot gold touched a record (at the time) US$3,839.19 per ounce, extending a rally driven by safe-haven demand.
In 2024, Zijin produced 1.3 million ounces of gold, placing it ninth globally in estimated reserves.
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