After waiting for over twenty years, Majing Co., the iron ore company invested in by Zijin, is finally about to go public.
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A shareholding reform twenty years ago once brought Makeng Co. to the doorstep of the capital market.
At that time, Zijin Mining held 31.5% of the shares and was the second largest shareholder. The first chairman, Luo Yingnan, also expressed his intention to accelerate the large-scale development of Makeng Co. and strive for the company to go public soon.
But this "go public soon" ended up waiting twenty years.
According to the Shanghai Stock Exchange announcement, on May 27, 2026, the Listing Committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange will review the main board listing application of Fujian Makeng Mining Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Makeng Co.”).
Twenty years have passed, and the story supporting Makeng Co.’s IPO is still that same Makeng iron mine.
Makeng Co. has only one mining right, which is for the Makeng iron mine. By the end of 2025, Makeng iron mine’s iron ore reserves reached 325 million tons, with associated molybdenum ore, limestone for cement, and other resources.
This IPO brings more uncertainties for Makeng Co.
On one hand, Makeng Co.’s business is tightly tied to Makeng iron mine. With iron concentrate prices trending lower, Makeng Co.’s revenue growth has slowed, with even a slight decline in 2025.
From 2023 to 2025, Makeng Co.’s revenues were 1.962 billion yuan, 2.05 billion yuan, and 1.991 billion yuan, while net profits attributable to the parent were 651 million yuan, 664 million yuan, and 602 million yuan, respectively.
On the other hand, safety hazards remain unresolved. During the recent reporting period, Makeng Co. experienced a production accident resulting in one death and one injury.
This iron mine company, deeply connected with Zijin Mining and standing at the Shanghai Stock Exchange entrance after twenty years of waiting, is now under scrutiny as to whether it can achieve its IPO dream.
Connection with Zijin
Makeng Co. and Zijin Mining share a deep connection.
As early as 2000, Zijin Mining, together with the Fujian Eighth Geological Team, Fujian Panluo Iron Mine, and Fujian Longgang Co. Ltd., jointly established Makeng Ltd. Each party invested 2.52 million yuan, holding 25% of the registered capital.
Afterward, Makeng Co.’s equity structure underwent several adjustments, and the shareholding reform was completed at the end of 2005. The largest shareholder was the Fujian Bureau of Geological and Mineral Exploration and Development with a 33.5% stake, while Zijin Mining was the second largest shareholder with 31.5%.
Makeng Co. carried many expectations from all parties.
In December 2005, the founding conference of Makeng Mining was held at Longyan Minxi Hotel. Former Zijin Mining chairman Chen Jinghe and a Fujian Geological Bureau official jointly unveiled the company.
This founding event was also seen as the crucial starting point for the accelerated development of Makeng iron mine and entry into the capital market.
Moreover, the first chairman of Makeng Co., Luo Yingnan, had a close relationship with Zijin Mining.
Luo Yingnan joined Zijin Mining in 2000, later serving as a director, president, and vice chairman. As president, Luo Yingnan was dubbed by the media as "the most expensive executive in Fujian" with an annual salary of 5.15 million yuan.
At Makeng Co.'s founding conference, Luo Yingnan publicly stated that large-scale development of Makeng iron mine was "the dream of generations in western Fujian," and said he would work to accelerate its development and strive for the company to go public soon.
For a long time, Makeng Co. did not enter the capital market swiftly but remained in the depths of Longyan’s mines, focusing on development, expansion, and equity restructuring around Makeng iron mine.
It was not until December 2025 that the IPO application by Makeng Co. was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, bringing this iron mine company, which had completed shareholding reform twenty years ago, officially to the main board IPO threshold.
Makeng Co.'s controlling shareholder is now Fujian Rare Rare Earth (Group) Co., Ltd., while Zijin Mining remains the second largest shareholder, holding 37.35% of the shares.
Stagnant Performance
Makeng's mining operation focuses on mining and processing iron ore, which is sold as iron concentrate.
From 2023 to 2025, iron concentrate brought in 1.801 billion yuan, 1.886 billion yuan, and 1.792 billion yuan respectively, accounting for over 90% each year.
Makeng Co.’s revenue has not seen a significant leap, with a decrease in 2025 compared to the previous year.
This is mainly affected by industry cycles.
Recent years, affected by macroeconomic factors and industry market price shifts, Makeng Co.’s average selling price of iron concentrate declined significantly from 849.74 yuan/ton in 2023 to 785.34 yuan/ton in 2025, a decrease of nearly 8%.
However, the main risk for Makeng Co. lies in its heavy reliance on a single mine.
Currently, Makeng Co.’s operations depend solely on Makeng iron mine, without ownership of any other mines.
This means that if adverse events such as safety accidents, geological changes, or environmental requirements temporarily halt mining operations, it could significantly impact its business performance.
In fact, a production accident has occurred during the reporting period at Makeng iron mine.
On November 6, 2024, due to failure to comprehensively check and clear the site before blasting, staff did not notice two workers in the support operation and inform them to evacuate. The subsequent blast’s shockwave and flying stones caused one death and one injury among the workers.
The local Emergency Management Bureau classified the incident as a "general accident," imposing a fine of 600,000 yuan on Makeng Co.
Makeng Co. openly admits this risk in its prospectus.
“If in future production and operation Makeng iron mine encounters adverse events affecting its business, such as safety accidents, geological changes, environmental requirements, and mining operations are temporarily suspended, it may significantly affect the company’s operations, and may result in sharp declines in performance or even losses,” Makeng Co. admits.
Even so, Makeng Co.'s main IPO goal is still to expand Makeng iron mine’s production capacity.
According to the fundraising plan, Makeng Co. plans to raise 1 billion yuan for the “Makeng iron mine mining and processing capacity expansion project,” which is expected to bring an additional 5 million tons/year iron ore processing capacity.
With this, Makeng Co.'s annual iron ore processing capacity would reach 10 million tons, increasing its reliance on the single mine.
Aside from expansion, another controversy in the IPO involves dividend arrangements.
In 2023 and 2024, Makeng Co.'s cash dividends reached 333 million yuan and 200 million yuan, accounting for 51.15% and 30.12% of net profit attributable to the parent company respectively.
However, Makeng Co. has established future dividend policies such as "Future Three-Year Shareholder Dividend Planning (2025-2027)" and pledged: Given no major investment projects or capital expenditures (except fundraising projects), and after annual earnings and capital reserves, annual cash dividends will total not less than 10% of distributable profit for that year.
But this cash dividend ratio is still lower than the average level before Makeng Co.’s IPO.
In response, Makeng Co. explained that company profits were high from 2023 to 2024, and since reaching Phase II capacity in 2018 until 2024, there was no large capital expenditure requirement, so cash dividends would not affect normal operations.
Whether this explanation will be accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange remains to be seen.
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