Moolenaar to State: Rail Project Could Help China Control Critical Minerals in Africa

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the Select Committee on China sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising concerns about Ivanhoe Atlantic, a company with significant Chinese state-linked ownership that has received statements of support from the State Department for a multibillion-dollar rail project in Liberia. The project could possibly receive U.S. taxpayer funding from the federal government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

In the letter, Moolenaar highlights how Ivanhoe has a significant ownership stake from companies connected to the Chinese government, including United Front–linked entities as well as firms sanctioned or restricted by the U.S. government. Moolenaar warns that such relationships exemplify how the CCP seeks to dominate and control critical mineral supply chains through indirect stakes in foreign mining ventures.

“China CITIC Bank Corporation (CITIC) and Zijin Mining Group Company Limited (Zijin) together hold roughly 40% ownership stakes in Ivanhoe Mines, a sister company of Ivanhoe in the Ivanhoe mining portfolio. CITIC is wholly owned by China’s Ministry of Finance, and in 2022 the Federal Communications Commission placed telecommunication services controlled by CITIC on the Covered List for posing “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.” Zijin was added in 2025 to the “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act” (UFLPA) Entity List due to use of forced labor in China. CITIC and Zijin’s equity stakes in Ivanhoe exemplify how the CCP secures critical mineral supply chains through indirect, minority-share investments in foreign mining firms as part of the “Two Markets, Two Resources” (两个市场, 两种资源) strategy to penetrate global markets,” writes Moolenaar.

To read the rest of the letter, click here.