The annual salary of a secretary reaching millions of yuan could not prevent embarrassing typographical errors from appearing repeatedly in corporate disclosures. Zijin Mining Group Company Limited (601899.SH, 02899.HK) recently issued a correction announcement after its 2026 semi-annual report contained obvious spelling mistakes, including writing "People's Government" as "RMB Government" and misspelling "new energy" as "new bear energy".

On September 5, Zijin Mining Group Company Limited released a correction notice and apology, stating that these errors do not involve financial data, accounting subjects, or operating indicators, and would not materially affect the authenticity, accuracy, or completeness of previously disclosed periodic reports. However, for a listed company with a market value of 874 billion yuan and A-share gains exceeding 900% since its initial public offering, periodic reports carry more than just numbers—they serve as a critical reference for investors evaluating business performance and making investment decisions.

What makes this situation more concerning is that some of these errors are not new. They have repeatedly appeared across multiple periodic reports from Zijin Mining Group Company Limited. A few wrong characters might seem trivial, but the persistence of identical mistakes over several years points to deeper issues in the information disclosure preparation and review process, not merely clerical oversight.

Where the problems began

On August 21, Zijin Mining Group Company Limited published its 2026 semi-annual report. The financial performance was impressive—revenue reached 194.178 billion yuan, up 15.78% year-on-year, while net profit attributable to shareholders surged 68.17% to 39.17 billion yuan. Yet the report also contained multiple basic text errors that drew media attention.

Among the mistakes, "Moizhugongka County People's Government" was incorrectly written as "Moizhugongka County RMB Government" with an extra "RMB" inserted. Additionally, "Qinghai Xining Rural Commercial Bank Co., Ltd." lost the word "Bank" from its name. The most glaring error transformed "Jiangsu Zangqing New Energy Industry Development Fund Partnership" into a nonsensical phrase replacing "energy" with "bear" and "industry" with "high business".

When approached by media on September 1, the company initially thanked reporters for identifying typographical errors in the financial statement notes, promising corrections in future reports and stronger oversight of accounting firms. Following broader media coverage, the official correction announcement came on September 5 with a public apology.

Recurring mistakes exposed

If these were isolated incidents, they might be dismissed as simple carelessness. But a review of historical filings reveals that the "RMB Government" error dates back to the 2020 annual report and has been repeated in subsequent disclosures. Similarly, the "bear energy high business" and missing "Bank" errors were already present in the 2025 semi-annual report. Rather than newly created problems, these errors appear to have been carried forward through copy-and-paste processes into each new report.

Notably, Zijin Mining Group Company Limited changed its audit firm during this period. From 2020 to 2024, Ernst & Young served as the annual report auditor, but since 2025, Deloitte has taken over. Despite the change in auditors, the same low-level textual errors persisted, suggesting that the responsibility cannot be attributed solely to any single accounting firm.

In April, the company published an information disclosure management policy outlining specific responsibilities for report preparation. The planning and finance department handles financial report compilation and data accuracy, while the securities department consolidates non-financial sections and submits the draft to the board secretary for review. The problematic content appeared primarily in the financial statement notes, which fall under the finance department's initial drafting before subsequent review stages.

The repetition of identical errors across different years indicates a fixed blind spot in the process. Those reviewing the financial statement notes—including the board secretary—consistently failed to catch these mistakes.

Board secretary transition draws attention

The focus on these typographical errors has turned toward Zijin Mining Group Company Limited's board secretary role. On December 31, 2025, Gao Wenlong succeeded Zheng Youcheng as the company's board secretary. This transition coincided with the company's leadership change, as Zhou Laichang, a veteran who joined the company in March 1996, assumed the chairmanship after founder Chen Jinghe stepped down.

Zheng Youcheng, born in August 1968, did not leave the company after relinquishing the secretary role. He moved to become an executive director, also serving on the strategy and sustainable development committee, execution and investment committee, and as co-chair of the audit and supervision committee. His background includes a degree in geological and mineral exploration from Fuzhou University, a master's in public administration from Xiamen University, and prior experience in media and government positions before joining Zijin Mining Group Company Limited in 2005.

During Zheng's tenure as board secretary from December 2019 through 2025, several annual reports containing the recurring errors were published. His compensation during this period was substantial. The 2020 annual report revealed his pre-tax salary of 1.8173 million yuan. Over the following years, his total pre-tax compensation from Zijin Mining Group Company Limited amounted to 3.1942 million yuan in 2021, 6.0964 million in 2022, 4.8762 million in 2023, 4.5138 million in 2024, and 5.67 million in 2025. In total, Zheng earned 26.1679 million yuan before taxes over six years as board secretary, averaging approximately 4.36 million yuan annually. By the end of 2025, he held 1.97 million shares in the company.

His successor, Gao Wenlong, is roughly nine years younger and holds impressive academic credentials—an undergraduate degree from Peking University in information science and a doctorate from Florida State University in the same field. Before joining Zijin Mining Group Company Limited in October 2021, Gao worked at Jefferies Investment Bank, Thomson Reuters, and China Guotai Yuanxin Asset Management. He previously served as director and general manager of Zijin Mining Group Company Limited's Shanghai investment subsidiary and currently holds the positions of vice president and board secretary, in addition to chairing Zijing Tianfeng Futures since April 2024. In mid-April, he resigned from his non-independent director position at Zhaojin International Gold Co.,Ltd. (000506) citing personal work reasons. His compensation as board secretary has not yet been publicly disclosed and will likely appear in the 2026 annual report. As of the end of 2025, Gao held zero shares in the company.

Both Zheng and Gao possess extensive professional backgrounds and are seasoned executives. Yet despite their credentials, neither caught the basic textual error of "RMB Government" that persisted through multiple reporting cycles.

Lessons for the broader market

While a handful of misspelled characters may appear insignificant, they reveal that listed companies still have gaps in their periodic report preparation and review systems. The correction notice and apology from Zijin Mining Group Company Limited serve as a reminder to the company and a warning to other listed companies—accuracy matters in both data and text. Information disclosure is not trivial. Every character and every figure must be verified to build and maintain investor trust.