Miner tied to Chinese state-owned enterprise says Ottawa shouldn't challenge Peru deal

A subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned mining firm says Canada is wrongly considering a national security review in its agreement to purchase a gold and copper mine in Peru.

In May, Vancouver-based Pan American Silver Corp. announced an agreement worth almost $300 million US to sell its stake in Peru's La Arena gold mine to Jinteng (Singapore) Mining, a subsidiary of China's Zijin Mining Group.

Pan American said then that the agreement was «subject to customary conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.»

Since then, however, Canada's Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne has found the agreement «could be injurious to national security» and told the company in late June that he «may» order a formal review under the act.

Certain types of foreign investments involving Canadian companies are reviewed on national security grounds, and Jinteng voluntarily notified the director of investments at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada shortly after the agreement was announced.

The federal government maintains a list of nearly three dozen critical minerals «essential to Canada's economic or national security,» and reviews of investments involving foreign companies like Zijin are a protective measure to maintain Canadian control of materials essential to «the green and digital economy.»

Zijin is partially owned by the Chinese government and overseen by members of the Chinese Communist Party.

Canada's critical minerals strategy outlines how allies in Europe have «experienced the consequences of dependence upon non-like-minded countries for strategic commodities.»

Jinteng claims in a judicial review application filed in Federal Court in late July that the minister «lacks jurisdiction under the act» to order a