On June 26, the launch ceremony for the Suzhou Industrial Park Rio Tinto-CITIC Xinxin Equity Investment Fund was successfully held in Suzhou. The fund was jointly established by CITIC Investment Holdings and its wholly-owned subsidiary CITIC Private Equity, in partnership with global miner Rio Tinto Group, Shaanxi Coal Geology Group, Yuanfeng Capital, and the Zhongfang Consortium.
Xu Wei, Deputy General Manager of the Investment Management Department at CITIC Group; Xu Feng, CEO of Rio Tinto China; and Lu Yuan, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of Suzhou Industrial Park, attended the event and delivered speeches. Also in attendance were Zhang Zhibin, Deputy General Manager of CITIC Investment Holdings; Shan Zhenlei, head of CITIC Bank’s Suzhou Branch; and representatives from other fund investors and prospective portfolio companies.
Xu Wei stated that the launch of the Suzhou Rio Tinto-CITIC New Fund marks a significant milestone in the deepening collaborative partnership among CITIC, Rio Tinto, and Suzhou. CITIC’s various entities will focus on leveraging investment to drive growth and will coordinate resources to support the fund’s development. Efforts will be made to deepen industry-finance synergy and support the green, intelligent transformation of the mining sector.
The fund CITIC said will act as a bridge to help Suzhou cultivate and expand its industrial clusters. Furthermore, it will strengthen international cooperation, providing mutual empowerment for partner enterprises to both “go global” and “bring in” global resources. Xu Feng noted that the Suzhou Rio Tinto-CITIC New Fund aims to identify, incubate, and scale up China’s cutting-edge solutions in areas such as mining technology, digitalisation and automation, new energy, and resource recycling.
The goal is to effectively apply Chinese innovative technologies to realise Rio Tinto’s global vision of making mining “safer, more efficient, and lower-carbon.” Lu Yuan remarked that the investment focus of the Suzhou Rio Tinto-CITIC New Fund aligns perfectly with the Industrial Park’s key industrial sectors and its technology-finance ecosystem. The Park is committed to creating a world-class business environment, providing the fund with superior services and robust support, and setting a new benchmark for government-enterprise, central-local, and international cooperation.
At the conference, Zhang Zhibin and representatives from other partners jointly launched the fund. CITIC Private Equity provided an overview of the fund. Keynote speeches were delivered by Emily Hilton, General Manager of Rio Tinto Innovation; Zhuang Bin, Chief Accountant of Shaanxi Coal Geology Group; Sheng Gang, President of Suzhou Industrial Park State-owned Capital Investment & Operation Holdings and Chairman of Yuanfeng Capital; Zhang Feng, President of China-Singapore Consortium; Ren Dejin, Vice President of CITIC Bank Suzhou Branch; and Hu Xinyi, Chairman of Boonray Technology, a prospective portfolio company. More than 60 representatives from relevant partner organisations attended the event.
Boonray is one of a number of fast growing Chinese autonomous haulage technology majors, who also have close ties to new energy hybrid and BEV mining truck OEMs, to seek listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Other important examples include CiDi, which listed in late 2025 and EACON, which is in the final stages of listing.
Boonray is one of the first proposed investments for the Suzhou Rio Tinto-CITIC New Fund – the company focuses on proprietary L4 autonomous driving + unmanned battery swapping + intelligent dispatch systems. It has already attracted over US$14 million of investment from battery electric vehicle and technology giant BYD; plus leading Chinese wide body mining truck group Tonly is also a major investor. Tonly is also a leader in new energy mining trucks – some of which are also produced in close collaboration with Boonray with Boonray branding; while Boonray also works closely with another leading Chinese mining truck OEM, LGMG including the recent launch of the battery and autonomous RTE156 truck.
There is also a link between Tonly and Rio Tinto, via a two year trial of a fleet of eight 91 t Tonly battery-swap haul trucks at the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia, which is ongoing. The trial, run in partnership with SPIC Qiyuan, utilises robotic charging stations and is Rio’s first-ever use of battery-powered haul trucks in open-pit mining.
Managed by CITIC Private Equity, the Suzhou Rio Tinto-CITIC Innovation Fund completed its filing with the Asset Management Association of China in June 2026. It focuses on investing in Chinese technology innovation enterprises across sectors such as mining technology, digitalisation and automation, new energy, and new materials.
CITIC Investment Holdings said the successful establishment of the fund demonstrates Rio Tinto Group’s firm confidence in the long-term positive outlook of China’s economy, its high regard for the excellent business environment of the Suzhou Industrial Park, and its deep trust in CITIC Group’s investment and operational management capabilities. Leveraging this fund, CITIC says it will further deepen its partnership with Rio Tinto Group.