Who are you? Mining company Ivanhoe Atlantic appears to be using the decades-old political tactic of using an image taken with an elected official to potentially mislead the Liberian Government and others, into believing that US Government officials are supporting its current in-country critical mineral investments.
According to Ivanhoe Atlantic Chairman Peter Pham, who has been lobbying lawmakers and the State Department in support of the group’s Liberian mineral deal, the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), chaired by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) has put it support behind its deal.
Pham also posted an image of himself and Rep. Mast, where he stated that he personally thanked Rep. Mast for his committee’s “support for progressing multi-user, independently-operated infrastructure vital to Liberia’s development as well as #CriticalMinerals investments of Ivanhoe Atlantic & other #USA firms.”
Well, the image is authentic, but the context behind the captioning doesn’t appear to be.
In speaking to The Floridian about the image he took with Pham approached Rep. Mast during a fundraising event for Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson. Rep. Mast said that Pham only asked to take a picture with him, and that he had “no idea who that guy was.”
Also, a House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) staffer recently stated, “Mast has no f*cking idea who this (Pham) guy is.”
Mast also reiterated his concerns about his HFAC supporting any company that has ties, directly or indirectly, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Mast also confirmed that HFAC has not taken any position on what is clearly an issue for Liberia to manage.
“We must divest from China, and work to ease our reliance on Chinese goods, products, and CCP-backed Chinese companies,” said Rep. Brian Mast in a statement to The Floridian. "There is a high probability that these CCP-backed companies could and would work to sabotage our supply chain, or the critical components (minerals) that we as a nation rely on.”
From China With Love?
Ivanhoe Atlantic, which is based in Delaware and has a Post Office box as its mailing address, was previously known as High Power Exploration (HPX) and became Ivanhoe Atlantic in December 2024, was created by Robert Friedland.
Friedland is the founder of Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines. LTD. Friedland also founded I-Pulse, Inc., the majority stockholder of Ivanhoe Atlantic.
Bronwyn Barnes, CEO of Ivanhoe Atlantic, recently stated, “We are delighted to transition to our new Ivanhoe Atlantic name and branding, which reflects our inclusion into the Ivanhoe group of companies, which include Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., and Ivanhoe Electric Inc.”
Ivanhoe Mines, LTD., is a Canadian company that is partly owned by CCP-supported Chinese companies. While the company's founder owns 12.08%, Hong Kong-based Zijin Mining Group Company Limited owns 12.23%, and Beijing-based China CITIC Bank Corporation owns 22.33%. Curiously enough, 50.77% of Ivanhoe Mines' ownership is unknown.
When it was first reported that Ivanhoe Mines, LTD was partially owned by Chinese government interests, Barnes pushed back.
“You know, we’re not here playing mining, we don’t play mining anymore, we’re playing geopolitics,” Barnes recently said. “We don’t have Chinese shareholders. We won’t have Chinese offtake partners. This product will be going either to the Middle East, East Europe, or to the US," said Barnes.
While Barnes has emphatically declared that none of Ivanhoe Atlantic's shareholders are Chinese, two of its directors, Kenneth Lau and Patrick Tsang, are both tied to the Hong Kong conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.
Lau, Tsang, and Pham all sit on the Ivanhoe Atlantic board.
