Ross Beaty-backed Lumina Gold Corp. LUM-X has agreed to be acquired by a subsidiary of China’s CMOC Group Ltd. CMCLF for $581-million. Vancouver-based Lumina is developing the Cangrejos gold project in Ecuador. The company in 2023 published an engineering study that showed the potential for a mine to produce 9.8 million ounces of gold, 7.8 million ounces of silver and 1.1 billion pounds of copper over 26 years. The capital cost for the initial phase of the project was projected at US$925-million. Well-known Canadian mining financier and philanthropist Mr. Beaty is Lumina’s biggest shareholder. CMOC Singapore Pte. Ltd. is offering to pay $1.27 a share in cash to Lumina shareholders, which is a 41-per-cent premium to the stock’s closing price on Thursday. CMOC Group is a major global producer of molybdenum and tungsten in China, of copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo and of niobium and phosphate in Brazil. CMOC is publicly traded, but one of its largest shareholders is Luoyang Mining Group, a state-controlled entity in China. The federal government has cracked down over the past few years on Chinese acquisitions of Canadian critical minerals companies owing to national security concerns. Last year, Vancouver-based Solaris Resources Inc. called off a financing deal with China’s Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. after failing to receive regulatory approval from Ottawa. Solaris had planned to use the funds to develop a copper project in Ecuador. But precious metals companies such as Lumina have generally not been subject to such harsh scrutiny, because gold and silver aren’t classified as critical minerals in Canada. Marcus Giannini, an analyst with Haywood Securities Inc., doesn’t expect the government to have any major concerns with the Lumina-CMOC transaction. “We do not foresee any national security issues with this deal given Cangrejos’ composition as a predominately gold asset,” he said in a note to clients on Monday. Mr. Giannini, in fact, sees the potential for a higher bid for the company, given that the takeover price is materially below his $1.75-a-share target. “Parties comfortable with Ecuador as a jurisdiction could see value in a higher bid given the recent meteoric rise in gold prices,” he said. Gold prices in recent months have rocketed to new all-time highs, owing to extreme financial uncertainty brought on by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Bullion on Monday traded around US$3,430 an ounce. The Lumina acquisition requires approval by the British Columbia Supreme Court, and at least two-thirds of votes cast by shareholders, option holders and restricted share units owners. Shares in Lumina rose by 29 per cent to close at $1.16 apiece on the TSX Venture Exchange on Monday. Lumina also announced on Monday that it is raising US$20-million from CMOC in a debt deal. The financing isn’t contingent on the acquisition closing.