Weiling Shares Surged 156% in Over Two Months, Mining Tycoon Makes a Comeback

21st Century Business Herald Dong Peng

On March 13, Weiling Co., Ltd. retreated from its high, hitting the daily limit down.

Before that, the company had broken away from lithium prices and peer stock trends, experiencing a period of independent upward movement. As of March 12, the company’s overall increase this year reached 155.5%, far exceeding the industry average of 20%.

The abnormal stock price movement mainly stemmed from changes at the shareholder level.

At the end of February this year, after announcing the continued promotion of the share transfer agreement for Tibet Shannan Antimony and Gold Resources Company, Weiling’s stock once ranked among the top five in the A-share gainers.

The party interested in taking over Weiling is Xingye Silver & Tin, which saw its stock price surge last year and owns Asia’s largest silver mine.

Founded 35 years ago, Xingye Silver & Tin has experienced ups and downs. After a debt crisis triggered by a mine accident in 2019 and subsequent bankruptcy restructuring, since 2024, with capital support and the rise cycle of silver and tin, both the company and its founder have seen new opportunities.

For example, Xingye Silver & Tin’s maximum increase in 2025 exceeded 500%, successfully entering the trillion-yuan market cap club of A-shares. The company was also included in the MSCI China Index, and by the end of January this year, its market value peaked at 120 billion yuan.

Now, Xingye Silver & Tin has also initiated H-share listing, and with Weiling’s ongoing IPO, the two companies are expected to build a diversified dual-listing platform of “A+H” and multiple A-share listings.

However, due to historical reasons, although Ji Xingye remains the actual controller of Xingye Silver & Tin, its control structure has shifted from “direct shareholding + group control” to “voting rights entrustment.”

“From the difficult start in 1991 to the phoenix rebirth after market trials and crises… over the past 35 years, we have always focused on our main business with unwavering dedication,” Ji Xingye previously stated.

Ji Xingye, 67 years old, is only two years younger than Chen Jinghe, founder of Zijin Mining, who recently retired. Despite only having a high school education, he is a trained professional, having worked early in forestry science at Chifeng Forestry Science and Technology Research Institute and at Chifeng Honghua Gou Gold Mine, laying the foundation for his later entrepreneurial path.

In 1991, Chen Jinghe led a semi-industrial experiment at Zijin Mountain, and at age 32, Ji Xingye started his own business by founding Chifeng Jingxin Steel Ball Factory, mainly processing metals, marking the beginning of his over 30-year entrepreneurial journey.

In the mid-1990s, Ji Xingye invested in Keshiketengqi Daxin Lead-Zinc Mine and Fusheng Silver-Zinc Mine, officially entering the non-ferrous metal mining and processing sector, becoming the core of his business.

In 2021, he registered and established Inner Mongolia Xingye Mining Co., Ltd. (later renamed Inner Mongolia Xingye Group), consolidating his mines and assets.

In his first decade of entrepreneurship, Ji Xingye completed the transition from a single factory to a group enterprise.

In the second decade, through major asset restructuring with Chifeng Fulong Thermal Power Co., Ltd., he helped Xingye Group achieve its first A-share listed company under his control.

However, the 2019 mining accident at Yinman Mine became a major turning point, nearly wiping out two decades of accumulation.

Yinman Mine, acquired by Xingye Mining (originally Xingye Silver & Tin) in 2016, had revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan and net profit of 460 million yuan in 2017, comparable to a mid-sized listed company, and was a core subsidiary of Xingye Mining.

After the accident, the mine was ordered to cease production and undergo rectification, cutting off its core cash flow, which is widely seen as the direct trigger for Xingye Group’s debt crisis.

In August 2019, creditor Chifeng Yubang Mining Co., Ltd. filed for restructuring of Xingye Mining’s controlling shareholder, Xingye Group, due to a 20 million yuan loan that was overdue and clearly lacked repayment ability.

For Ji Xingye personally, this crisis brought a series of severe consequences, including criminal accountability, administrative penalties, shareholding resets, and loss of control.

For example, Xingye Group’s entire 100% equity stake, previously held by Ji Xingye and other original shareholders, was cleared and now held by Yunnan Trust (Xiangyun No. 20 Restructuring Service Trust).

However, during the trust’s existence, the rights and voting power of Xingye Silver & Tin shares held at the group level—beyond sale proceeds and income—were irrevocably entrusted to Ji Xingye.

Therefore, Ji Xingye is still recognized as the actual controller of Xingye Silver & Tin.

Although temporarily holding power, it’s difficult to talk about a comeback, but Ji Xingye has leveraged the industry’s upward cycle to achieve a “rebirth” through resource mergers, capacity expansion, asset optimization, and overseas expansion.

In December 2024, Xingye Silver & Tin spent 2.388 billion yuan to acquire 85% of Yubang Mining, gaining Asia’s largest single silver mine (Shuangjianzi Mountain Silver-Lead Mine), with silver reserves ranking first in Asia.

After acquiring Yubang Mining, Xingye Silver & Tin’s silver reserves increased to 24,536.7 tons, accounting for 34.56% of China’s total reserves and 4.46% of global reserves.

According to the World Silver Survey 2023, the company ranks first in Asia and eighth worldwide among silver companies.

Starting April 2025, the company again acquired 100% of Atlantic Tin in Australia for 454 million yuan, securing tin resources in Achmmach, Morocco.

These two major acquisitions not only added resource reserves and project growth but also, due to rising silver and tin prices, made the company a hot target in the A-share non-ferrous metals sector, pushing its stock price to unprecedented heights.

For example, London silver prices surged in the second half of 2025, with a 147.8% increase for the year, far surpassing international gold prices.

Against this backdrop, Xingye Silver & Tin, dubbed the “Silver King of Asia,” saw its stock price rise from 11.19 yuan (pre-rights adjustment) at the start of the year to a peak of 74.8 yuan at the end of January, a maximum increase of 568%.

Meanwhile, during the metal price rise cycle, Xingye Silver & Tin’s profits in the first three quarters of 2025 increased quarter by quarter.

Although the company has not yet released a full-year forecast, based on the main product price trends in Q4, it’s highly likely that profits will hit a new record.

“2025 is a critical year for Xingye Silver & Tin’s ‘Second and Third’ strategic breakthroughs… We will steadily advance in complex environments, bravely overcome challenges, and achieve record-high profits, delivering a comprehensive and stable development performance,” Ji Xingye stated in his New Year message.

It’s worth noting that his transformation of Xingye Silver & Tin is not solely “adding,” but also involves asset optimization.

In March this year, the company announced the sale of a 60% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Shuangyuan Nonferrous for 208 million yuan, retaining only 40%, and excluding Shuangyuan Nonferrous from its consolidated financial statements.

Xingye Silver & Tin explained that “this will help the company focus on core businesses, optimize asset structure and resource allocation, improve operational efficiency, and reduce management costs, aligning with the company’s long-term strategic plan.”

Additionally, the sale is expected to realize an investment gain of about 321 million yuan, positively impacting the company’s net profit in 2026.

The industry’s upward cycle not only significantly improves corporate performance but also creates a premium for capital market expansion.

For example, Zijin Mining, in 2025, acquired control of Cangge Mining in A-shares for over 10 billion yuan, and spun off Zijin Gold International’s H-share listing, building a “Zijin system” capital platform valued at over 1 trillion yuan.

While the scale of Xingye Silver & Tin cannot compare to Zijin Mining, its expansion approach is similar and worth emulating.

In November 2025, Weiling was temporarily suspended from trading and then announced plans to transfer control. Shareholders Shanghai Lingyi, Wen Ping, and Tibet Shannan Antimony and Gold Resources signed a share transfer agreement.

After the transfer, Shannan Antimony and Gold will nominate all five directors, reorganize the board, and upon approval at the shareholders’ meeting, gain control of the listed company. Shannan Antimony and Gold is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xingye Silver & Tin, which holds 100% of its equity.

Originally named Anzhong Co., Ltd., Weiling’s main business was lithium mining and salt processing, but compared to leading salt lake companies and ore lithium producers, its competitiveness was relatively average.

However, in 2025, the company expanded into tungsten, tin, lead, and zinc mining through external acquisitions, involving deposits of tungsten, tin, lead, and zinc.

This is a common development path for many mining companies—those that only operate a single mineral face a ceiling unless they extend upstream or downstream along the industry chain, such as Ganfeng Lithium in the lithium sector, or diversify across multiple minerals like Zhongkuang Resources, which expanded from rubidium and cesium into lithium and copper.

From this perspective, Xingye Silver & Tin can not only increase its lithium and tungsten resource layout, reducing cyclicality through diversified investments, but also establish a new A-share listed platform.

The control acquisition is still underway, and in January this year, Xingye Silver & Tin announced plans to issue overseas listing shares (H-shares) and apply for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This is also a recent trend among industry capital, inspired by the successful case of Zijin Gold International, and Shanjin International in the precious metals sector is also planning to go public.

If these acquisitions and listing plans proceed smoothly, Ji Xingye will establish a diversified capital platform of “Xingye Silver & Tin A+H,” along with the A-share Xingye Silver & Tin and Weiling.

This will further expand the company’s asset integration space and options for future development.