A copper deficit is set to inundate global markets throughout 2023 — and one analyst predicts the shortfall could potentially extend throughout the rest of the decade.
The world is currently facing a global copper shortage, fueled by increasingly challenging supply streams in South America and higher demand pressures. Copper is a leading pulse check for economic health due to its incorporation in various uses such as electrical equipment and industrial machinery.
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Panama’s maritime authority is crimping First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s efforts to ship copper out of the country, as the big Canadian copper miner faces the prospect of shutting down its giant Panamanian mine in a matter of weeks.
Late last year, Panama’s government ordered the Cobre Panama mine to close after the Central American country fell out with First Quantum over terms of a new fiscal agreement. The site had remained open pending an appeal with the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
(Bloomberg) — Some of the biggest names in copper have found high-ranking political allies to support their efforts to get the wiring metal added to a list of minerals deemed critical to the US.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Independent from Arizona, sent a letter with other lawmakers on Thursday urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to “revisit and reconsider the designation of copper as a critical mineral.”
https://www.northernminer.com/
Peru’s ongoing political crisis spells more trouble for miners in the world’s No. 2 copper producing nation, following two years marked by increasingly frequent protests targeting the industry.
The country was thrown into turmoil on Dec. 7, when former president Pedro Castillo was removed from office after less than a year and half on the job, after trying to dissolve Congress. The leftist Castillo, who made the move hours before he was set to face a third impeachment vote by the divided Congress, was impeached anyway, and has been arrested and charged with rebellion and conspiracy.
Teck misses copper and steelmaking coal output goals
Extreme weather events hurt Teck Resources Ltd. in 2022 as the Vancouver-based miner missed its copper and steelmaking coal output goals, the company said on Jan. 31.
The miner produced 65,400 tonnes of copper in its fourth quarter that ended on Dec. 31, pushing its overall annual production to 270,500 tonnes in 2022. That was lower than its estimate of 273,000 to 290,000 tonnes. In 2021, the company produced 72,000 tonnes of copper in its fourth quarter and 287,000 tonnes overall.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took an unusually strong step Tuesday and blocked a proposed mine heralded by backers as the most significant undeveloped copper and gold resource in the world because of concerns about its environmental impact on a rich Alaska aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
The move, cheered by Alaska Native tribes and environmentalists and condemned by some state officials and mining interests, deals a heavy blow to the proposed Pebble Mine. The intended site is in a remote area of southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
From Peru’s social unrest to Panama’s industry intervention, Latin America is becoming a trickier destination for big diggers.
Latin America has long been a favored destination for mining majors as a reliable source of metals, particularly copper. But increasingly, it’s becoming a trouble spot. From Chile’s tax hike to Peru’s social unrest and Panama’s intervention in a massive mine, all is not well.
The problem is clear enough. State infrastructure, pensions, education and health care were threadbare in much of the region even before a pandemic that exposed deep inequities.
An upsurge in the violent protests wracking Peru is crimping copper output in the world’s No. 2 supplier, with about 30% of its production at risk at a time of low global stocks and high prices.
One copper mine is offline after demonstrators stormed the site, another has seen shipments choked by roadblocks, while others have slowed operations as a precaution to manage scarce supplies of fuel and other inputs, according to industry group SNMPE.
An upsurge in the violent protests wracking Peru is crimping copper output in the world’s No. 2 supplier, with about 30% of its production at risk at a time of low global stocks and high prices.
One copper mine is offline after demonstrators stormed the site, another has seen shipments choked by roadblocks, while others have slowed operations as a precaution to manage scarce supplies of fuel and other inputs, according to industry group SNMPE.
Tribal groups are fighting an Arizona project whose backers say increasing the supply of copper, crucial to batteries, would reduce fossil-fuel use.
SUPERIOR, Ariz. — As Wendsler Nosie finished his evening prayers sitting before a mesquite fire, a ceremonial yucca staff festooned with eagle feathers by his side, he gazed sternly toward a distant mesa where mining companies hope to extract more than a billion tons of copper.
That mine could help address climate change by helping the United States replace fossil fuels and combustion engines with renewable energy and electric cars. But to Mr. Nosie, a former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, it’s the latest insult in a bitter history.
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As research shows carcinogens in their children’s bodies, people in Rouyn-Noranda are demanding more loudly that the local copper smelter – long exempt from provincial emissions rules – should clean up its act
Ethan Valois is eight now, and the arsenic levels in his body have started to come down. He and his parents live in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., home to a copper smelter that emits the known carcinogen at levels about 30 times higher than the provincial limit.
Following Friday’s attack that set on fire a worker housing area, Glencore announced that it has halted operations at the Antapaccay copper mine in southern Peru.
In a media statement, the company said that yesterday’s incidents endangered the safety of its employees and, therefore, authorities should start taking action to safeguard people’s integrity and private property rights.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi criticized a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure contract with China, saying the world’s largest producer of a key battery metal hasn’t benefited from the deal.
Congo, Africa’s second-largest nation by landmass, is flush with natural resources — including copper and cobalt that are major components in electric vehicles — but remains one of the world’s least-developed countries. Most of its minerals end up in China, which signed a landmark deal with Tshisekedi’s predecessor in 2008 to trade roads and buildings for the two metals.
LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Copper has begun the New Year on a surge, with funds piling back into the market in anticipation that China’s rapid emergence from a year of lockdowns will translate into recovering demand in the world’s largest metals buyer.
London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper broke back up through the $9,000-per tonne level last week for the first time since June. Currently trading around $9,130, the copper price is up by 9.6% since the start of January. The rally has been driven primarily by shifts in fund positioning on both the LME and the CME with the bulls back in town and bears in retreat.
Not ‘very far away’ from striking a deal with the Panama government, company says
Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said it isn’t “very far away” from striking a deal with the Panama government to ensure that it can keep its flagship copper mine alive.
The company has been negotiating a new contract for the rights of the Cobre Panama mine, situated about 120 kilometres west of Panama City, for about a year, stopping briefly on Dec. 16 after the Panama government halted discussions and announced plans to suspend Quantum’s operations.
