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Copper

Copper price: What’s in store for 2025 – by Frik Els (Mining.com – December 13, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Copper trading was febrile in 2024 attracting speculators well outside commodity circles who were desperate to connect the metal to what has become the ultimate market pump action – AI. AI data centers were going to do for copper what the energy transition and electric cars couldn’t, at least not in the short term.

Military spending was also hoisted up the flagpole of copper demand to see who saluted, according to chatbots. In May, Comex copper hit an all-time intraday high of nearly $5.20 a pound or $11,500 per tonne. Positioning went to such net lengths that dollar trading volumes scaled $100 billion (twice the Dow daily average) in one 24 hour period.

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Lawmakers push critical mineral status for copper, a major Arizona export, which would mean green energy tax breaks and less regulation – by Grace Monos (Cronkite News – December 12, 2024)

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WASHINGTON – Roughly 70% of copper produced in the U.S. comes from Arizona. Electric vehicles, solar panels and power cables can’t be produced without it, and for the first time last year, the U.S. government added copper to a list of critical materials.

But that designation in July 2023 only applied to a list kept by the Department of Energy. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains a separate list of critical minerals that comes with tax breaks and speedier permitting. So far, copper hasn’t made the cut. That may soon change under a measure promoted by Arizona lawmakers that sailed through the House recently.

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South32 eyes Alaska’s copper under potential Trump policy changes – by Editor (Mining.com – December 11, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s South32 is hopeful about a potential policy shift under Donald Trump’s second administration that could unlock access to the Ambler Mining District, a copper-rich region in northwest Alaska.

The company and its Canadian partner Trilogy Metals hold development rights and would benefit if plans for a controversial industrial road to the area gain approval. The 211-mile (340-km) road, which would enable mining operations in the region, was blocked in June by Interior Department due to environmental concerns.

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Chile Copper Firms Begin Talks on Combining Smelter Efforts – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – December 11, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Codelco and Enami, Chile’s two state copper companies, are discussing the possibility of combining their respective efforts to expand smelting capacity into a single project, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

A new working group is looking into collaboration between a project to overhaul a shuttered Enami smelter and a separate proposal to build a new plant being organized by Codelco, said the people, who asked not to be identified given the talks are private and at an early stage.

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Mining company charged 10 years after spilling toxic waste into B.C. waters – by Andrew Kurjata (CBC News British Columbia – December 10, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Collapse of Mount Polley tailings dam considered one of the worst environmental disasters in Canadian history

More than a decade after spilling millions of litres of toxic wastewater into rivers in the B.C. Interior, Imperial Metals Corp. has been charged with 15 violations of the federal Fisheries Act.

The charges were announced Tuesday by the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, which said it worked with the Department of Fisheries and Environment and Climate Change Canada to build the case for taking the company to court.

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Mining Giants Rio Tinto, Usha & Taesko Address Copper Crunch – by Stella Nolan EV Magazine – December 05, 2024)

https://evmagazine.com/

Mining giants Rio Tinto, Usha and Taseko are tackling copper shortages as surging EV and clean energy demand risks a 200,000-ton deficit by 2025

The global pivot to renewable energy and EVs drives an unprecedented demand for copper. The essential metal, critical for everything from EV batteries to wind turbines, is facing a supply crunch that could impede progress toward clean energy goals.

Swiss bank UBS estimates that the copper supply deficit will exceed 200,000 tons by 2025. The International Energy Forum adds that, to meet the growing demand, more than a billion tons of new copper mining capacity will be needed annually until 2050.

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Rio’s Abandoned Panguna Copper Mine Still a Threat, Report Says – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – December 05, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Rio Tinto Group contributed to widespread damage due to waste left at an abandoned copper mine in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and risks to local communities are ongoing, a report has found.

Panguna, which was operated by Rio subsidiary Bougainville Copper, was once one of the world’s largest copper mines. It was shut in 1989 after local protests over the disbursement of revenue from the mine degenerated into a civil war that killed as many as 20,000 people.

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Glencore confirms it will close Kidd Creek Mine at the end of 2026 – by Darren MacDonald (CTV News Northern Ontario – December 3, 2024)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

A spokesperson for Glencore Canada said Tuesday the company will close its Kidd Creek Mine near Timmins at the end of December 2026.

Alexis Segal, head of communications for Glencore Canada, told CTV News the decision comes after a 2021 study found there was no way to extend the life of the mine. “It’s already the deepest base metal mine in the world,” Segal said. There was no way to safely and economically mine deeper, forcing Glencore to close.

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Biden’s Angola visit aims to showcase his attempts to rival China – by Anne Soy (BBC.com – December 2, 2024)

https://www.bbc.com/

Apart from oil, Angola is also rich in minerals, including cobalt and lithium, which are essential for making batteries for electric vehicles.

Joe Biden has begun his long-anticipated maiden visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president but it comes amidst uncertainty over future US-Africa relations as Donald Trump prepares to succeed him in January.

Biden’s visit to oil-rich Angola seeks to underline an attempt by America to focus more on trade and heavy investment in infrastructure, in what some analysts see as the most direct counter yet to China’s influence on the continent.

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Panama agrees $26m payment to settle dispute with US miner – by Staff (Mining.com – November 26, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Panama has agreed to pay $26 million to settle a dispute with Dominion Mineral Corp. after losing an arbitration award in 2020 over the US mining company’s copper-gold exploration licences, according to La Estrella de Panamá.

The claim arose after the Panama refused to extend a mining exploration concession for the Cerro Chorcha project, held by Dominion’s local subsidiary Cuprum under a 2006 contract with Panama. The contract had an initial period of four years with the possibility of renewal for two additional 2-year terms.

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Troilus Gold brings potential funding from credit agencies to $1.3 billion – by Staff (Mining.com – November 21, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Troilus Gold (TSX: TLG) continues to receive the financial backing of global export credit agencies (ECAs), this time from Export Development Canada (EDC), to support the development of its copper-gold project in Quebec.

On Thursday, the company announced a new letter of intent (LOI) from EDC for up to $300 million. This, together with the LOIs recently signed with the export credit agencies of Germany, Finland and Sweden, brings the total potential funding to $1.3 billion.

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BHP bets billions on Chile mines to face global copper crunch – by Daina Beth Solomon and Fabian Cambero(Reuters – November 22, 2024)

https://www.xm.com/

BHP Group expects a global copper deficit of 10 million metric tons a decade from now, a shortfall that is driving its plans to spend at least $11 billion at the world’s biggest copper mine, Escondida, and other projects in Chile.

BHP detailed to investors this week plans to spend $10.7 billion to $14.7 billion within about 10 years to extract more copper from Escondida and the smaller Spence mine, and restart the Cerro Colorado mine. The world’s biggest listed miner’s annual production is set to fall by around 300,000 tons to 1.6 million tons by the end of the decade, largely driven by a slump at Escondida that is expected to peak in 2025.

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Mitsui places highest bid for stake in First Quantum’s Zambian copper mines (Mining Technology – November 21, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

The divestment of stakes may ease First Quantum’s financial strain after the closure of its Panamanian copper mine due to protests.

Japanese trading company Mitsui has placed the highest bid for around a 20% share in Canadian mining giant First Quantum Minerals‘ Zambian Sentinel and Kansanshi copper mines for roughly $2bn (Y308.82bn), reported Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The bid surpasses a competing offer from Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals Investment. The potential deal’s terms are still under negotiation. The company could opt for an alternative buyer or retain its assets.

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Osisko Metals shares rise on 53% resource boost at Gaspé copper project – by Staff (Mining.com – November 15, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Osisko Metals (TSX-V: OM) shares rose on Friday after the company announced an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Gaspé copper project, near Murdochville, in Quebec.

The updated estimate includes pit-constrained resources comprising 824 million tonnes grading 0.34% copper-equivalent in the indicated category and 670 million tonnes grading 0.38% copper-equivalent in the inferred category.

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After Trump’s win, mining near BWCAW back in play – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – November 11, 2024)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

In July, President-elect Trump vowed to reverse Biden’s mineral withdrawal on 225,000 acres of federal land in the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in “about 10 minutes.”

ELY — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reverse the Biden administration’s 20-year mining ban on federal land within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, bolstering the hopes of copper-nickel mining industry supporters but worrying environmentalists who fear pollution to the downstream wilderness area.

The mineral withdrawal, which bans mining on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest until 2043, and non-renewal of key federal mineral leases to Twin Metals’ proposed copper-nickel mine effectively killed the company’s plan to build an underground mine and tailings-storage facility processing plant along Birch Lake, which flows into the BWCAW via the Kawishiwi River.

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