by PENG Peng

Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd. said on Tuesday it had secured UK court approval for its £867 million takeover of SolGold plc, moving closer to full control of a major undeveloped copper project in Ecuador.

The Chinese miner said the scheme of arrangement was sanctioned at a UK court hearing on March 2, London time, and is expected to become effective on March 4, subject to final procedural steps.

Jiangxi Copper is offering 28 pence per share in cash for all issued and to-be-issued shares it does not already own in SolGold, valuing the London-listed company at about £867 million.

The deal was first agreed on December 24, 2025, after earlier approaches at 26 pence per share were rejected in November. In March 2025, Jiangxi Copper's Hong Kong subsidiary had acquired a 5.24% stake in SolGold for US$18.07 million, lifting its holding to about 12.19%, or roughly 366 million shares, before launching the full bid.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Perth, SolGold is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker SOLG. Its key asset is a 100% interest in the Cascabel copper-gold project in northern Ecuador.

The Cascabel project, located in Ecuador's Imbabura province along the Andean mineral belt, has identified copper resources of more than 20 million tonnes and gold resources exceeding 10 million ounces, with an average copper grade of around 0.7%, above the global average of roughly 0.5%, according to company disclosures.

The deal marks Jiangxi Copper's latest overseas expansion as it seeks to increase control over upstream resources. For the first three quarters of 2025, Jiangxi Copper reported revenue of 396.05 billion yuan, up 0.98% year on year, and net profit of 6.02 billion yuan, up 20.85%, supported by higher prices for its main products.