Biden's Second Son Helps Acquire Chinese Company Mine

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] As U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to curb China's large-scale investment in cobalt, a key raw material for electric vehicle batteries, allegations have emerged that Biden's second son helped China acquire the world's largest cobalt mine from an American company.

According to major foreign media including The New York Times (NYT) on the 21st (local time), China's China Molybdenum is suspected of playing a key role through Hunter Biden's investment firm BHR in securing an 80% stake in the Tenke Fungurume mine, the largest cobalt mine in Congo owned by U.S. company Freeport-McMoRan, back in 2016.

The purchase price for China Molybdenum's stake in Tenke Fungurume was approximately $2.65 billion (about 3.1 trillion KRW). China Molybdenum is the world's largest cobalt producer, and cobalt, along with lithium, is considered a core raw material for electric vehicle secondary batteries.

This allegation surfaced after President Biden warned earlier this year that China's growing dominance over global cobalt production could pose an obstacle to the paradigm shift toward electric vehicles.

Congo, rich in cobalt?a key raw material for electric vehicle batteries?is a battleground for resource competition between the U.S. and China. Last month, during the G20 summit, the Congolese president was invited to the U.S.-led 'Supply Chain Summit,' which primarily gathered Western and Asian allied leaders.

BHR is a private equity firm headquartered in Shanghai, China, with three Americans, including Hunter Biden, each holding a 10% stake, while the remaining shares are owned by Chinese companies. Hunter joined the company at its founding in 2013 and visited China with then-Vice President Biden later that year.

After facilitating the Tenke Fungurume mine deal in 2016, BHR was also involved two years later when Freeport-McMoRan transferred its stake in the Canadian Lundin mine to China Molybdenum.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that President Biden was unaware of Hunter's involvement in the sale. Hunter's lawyer, Chris Clark, told the NYT that Hunter currently does not hold any direct or indirect stake in BHR.

Tenge Punggurume (Photo by Reuters)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.