LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) – Doctor Copper has sat serene amid the chaos engulfing London Metal Exchange (LME) trading this month.
The London copper market was briefly shaken by the margin meltdown that triggered the March 8 suspension of the LME nickel market with a short-lived spike up to a new all-time high of $10,845 per tonne. But since then LME three-month copper has done little more than tread water, last trading at $10,340 per tonne.
Russian gas and oil are by far the most significant exports Moscow sells to Germany. Yet other important raw materials are also under the spotlight because of the war in Ukraine.
Almost all the debate surrounding Germany’s economic ties with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine has focused on gas and oil. With good reason — Germany buys more Russian oil and gas than any other European country, making energy Russia’s most lucrative import to Germany by far.
However, many German companies rely on a steady supply of other Russian exports, particularly raw materials such as nickel, palladium, copper and chromium.
(Bloomberg) — Last month, 13 copper-industry representatives at the London Metal Exchange were asked whether Russian metal should be blocked from its warehouses. Ten of them said “yes.” But when advisory groups for nickel and aluminum discussed the same question, the general consensus was “no.”
The LME, which is the ultimate decision-maker, says it won’t take action that goes beyond government sanctions — which, so far, have left most of the metals industry untouched.
The global copper industry needs to spend more than $100 billion to build mines able to close what could be an annual supply deficit of 4.7 million tonnes by 2030, Erik Heimlich, head of base metals supply at CRU said this week.
Speaking at the 2022 CRU World Copper Conference held in Santiago, Chile, the analyst said the supply gap for the next decade is estimated at six million tonnes per year, as the clean energy and electric vehicles sectors ramp up.
(Bloomberg) — The last time the copper industry gathered in Santiago, prices were below $3 a pound amid concerns over a slowdown in Chinese demand, and there was little talk of supply-chain woes or inflation.
Now the executives, bankers and traders drifting in to the Chilean capital for the first in-person version of the Cesco-CRU event in the pandemic era are facing an entirely different set of circumstances.
Country’s mineral riches, estimated to be worth $1 trillion, key to prosperous future
Mes Aynak, Afghanistan (AP) _ The ancient buddha statues sit in serene meditation in the caves carved into the russet cliffs of rural Afghanistan. Hundreds of meters below lies what is believed to be the world’s largest deposit of copper.
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are pinning their hopes on Beijing to turn that rich vein into revenue to salvage the cash-starved country amid crippling international sanctions.
Pakistan’s western border all along boasts rich mineral resources because of geological blessings of nature.
The mountains along the border which are shared by Iran and Afghanistan have in their bosom “the booty of mineral resources”. It is not only a prize from the Almighty for Pakistan but also the geological makeup of earth in the form of various mountain ranges lying on this axis. Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan all have copper, gold, iron, lead and granite, fluoride, chromite and marble (metallic and non-metallic resources).
Metals (copper, gold, iron and lead) in largest quantities are available only in Balochistan, whereas stones (non-metallic) are sufficiently available in KP too, and presently mining at a large-scale (of a non-metallic kind) is mostly taking place in KP.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum is eager to start work on a 200-km permanent, all-season road to his remote, fly-in First Nations community in the James Bay Lowlands, about 170 km northeast of Nakina.
Achneepineskum says the road, which would link to forestry roads near the Aroland First Nation near Nakina, would be a “lifeline into the community,” making the shipment of fuel, building materials, food and other essentials more affordable, and allowing community members to travel more freely. An all-season road is also becoming a more urgent necessity as the winter ice road seasons become shorter and less reliable because of climate change.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
This year’s annual U-Haul Growth Index, which tracks the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks arriving in a Canadian city, ranked North Bay, Ont., as the country’s leading growth city for the second year in a row with Sudbury following close behind in third place.
Covid-19 and skyrocketing housing prices in the Greater Toronto Area certainly had something to do with it, but both cities owe much of their appeal to the economic impact of northeastern Ontario’s mining cluster.
Companies and governments around the world have pulled out of Russia after the country invaded Ukraine last month, and the war has even sparked lawmakers in Minnesota to consider divesting state pension funds from companies tied to Russia in the midst of the humanitarian crisis. The Russian invasion has also now raised questions about Minnesota’s mining industry.
Both supporters and opponents of two potential copper-nickel mines have used the war in Ukraine to underscore their stances on the projects. Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, an advocacy group opposing Toronto-based PolyMet Mining’s project near Hoyt Lakes, says Russia’s attacks are just one more reason the mine should be stopped. That’s because, in part, PolyMet’s majority owner has business ties with Russia.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Rio Tinto Group is proposing to buy the 49 per cent of Canadian miner Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. it doesn’t already own for US$2.7-billion, potentially putting an end to years of strife with Turquoise Hill’s management and shareholders.
London-based Rio, one of the world’s biggest diversified mining companies, said on Monday it is offering $34 in cash a share for Turquoise Hill, a 32-per-cent premium to its Friday close on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The 27 tonnes of copper slabs are securely lashed down on the back of Omar Rachidi’s tractor-trailer. Now all he has to do is drive the cargo to its destination. But that’s easier said than done.
Two thousand kilometres (1,200 miles) of road lie between southeast DR Congo’s mineral belt and the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, from where the copper will be shipped to Asia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to have a significant impact on global aluminum supply and prices, while the news sent nickel prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange to a historic high Feb. 24.
The most-active nickel contract traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a historic high Feb. 24 as markets remain concerned about available inventories and export flow into China.
https://www.mining-technology.com/
Kinshasa has had a turbulent past but has started to prosper as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s economy expands at more than 6% a year.
Kinshasa – the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Africa’s greatest megacity – is poised to benefit from the massive copper and cobalt boom under way in the country.
In terms of population, it is the continent’s largest city with 17.1 million people living in the greater area, only slightly smaller than the Netherlands (17.7 million). It is projected to become the world’s biggest city with a whopping 35 million inhabitants by 2050, 58 million by 2075 and 83 million by the start of the next century.
The country’s efforts to create a new constitution could serve as a model or warning for tackling climate change and inequality.
Constanza San Juan is feeling optimistic. She sits on a committee of Chile’s constitutional convention that on Feb. 1 voted to nationalize the country’s mineral wealth—its deep veins of copper, lithium, magnesium, and silver—a notion that has mining companies and markets hyperventilating.
The idea is sufficiently radical that few believe it will be endorsed by the required two-thirds of the full convention. But San Juan, a 36-year-old historian, not only hopes it will—she wants it to go further.
