By Shubham Kalia

Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmaker John Moolenaar, the chair of the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan select committee focused on China, on Thursday raised concerns about mining group Ivanhoe Atlantic's alleged ties with the Chinese Communist Party.

"I am writing to bring to your attention information about companies in concerning ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that the State Department has supported. One such company is Ivanhoe Atlantic (Ivanhoe), a company with well-documented ties to Chinese state-owned enterprises," Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, wrote in a letter addressed to State Department Secretary Marco Rubio.

Ivanhoe Atlantic’s major shareholder is I-Pulse Inc., a US company founded and chaired by Robert Friedland, according to the company's website. Friedland is also the founder and executive co-chair of Toronto-listed Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines.

Nearly 33% of Ivanhoe Mines is owned by units of Chinese companies CITIC Group and Zijin Mining, according to LSEG data.

In the letter, Moolenaar pointed Rubio to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission placing CITIC's telecommunication services on the list for posing "an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons."

He added that Zijin was added in 2025 to the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" (UFLPA) entity list due to the use of forced labor in China.

Moolenaar linked the two companies and said the stakes in Ivanhoe Mining "exemplify how the Chinese Communist Party secures critical mineral supply chains through indirect, minority-share investments in foreign mining firms as part of two markets, two resources strategy."

Ivanhoe Atlantic and Ivanhoe Mines did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.

In July, the U.S. Embassy in Liberia had supported the signing of an estimated $1.8 billion agreement between Ivanhoe Atlantic and the Western African nation to create a rail corridor connecting Guinea and Liberia.

"I share the State Department's commitment to expanding U.S. commercial engagement in Africa and reducing our reliance on Chinese-controlled critical mineral supply chains. I am ready to work with the State Department to ensure that our commercial diplomacy is free from entanglements with the CCP," Moolenaar wrote.

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Mexico City; Editing by Michael Perry)