Copper – Page 42 – Republic of Mining

Copper to Rally Once Virus Passes, Chile Minister Says – by Maria Elena Vizcaino and Esteban Duarte (Bloomberg News – March 3, 2020)

March 4, 2020

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — The deadly coronavirus that’s rattled markets since January won’t stop copper prices from surging to $3 a pound this year, according to Chilean Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica.

The price of copper, often used as a barometer for the global economy, has dropped about 7% so far in 2020, signaling demand for the metal used in everything from electronics to automobiles has cooled as investors retreat from riskier assets.

Copper supplies at warehouses tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange expanded to the highest ever for this time of year as logistical constraints inside China are stopping output from reaching end-users, further pressuring down price for the metal.

Coronavirus fears hang over Toronto mining conference, but some executives see opportunity – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 3, 2020)

March 3, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

One industry veteran predicts anti-microbial copper would face increased demand as superbug viruses continue to emerge and pose threats to society

Tens of thousands of mining executives from roughly a hundred countries started pouring into downtown Toronto’s convention centre over the weekend to attend an annual commodity conference, apparently unfazed by the growing concerns about coronavirus.

Nonetheless, the deadly Covid-19 strain that’s spreading across the world surfaced as a topic of near constant discussion at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada event.

While a number of major global events such as the IHS CERAWeek 2020 event in Houston, the CRU-Cesco World Copper Conference in Chile and Geneva Autoshow were cancelled due to the virus outbreak, PDAC organizers have persevered.

Freeport’s Adkerson does not want to sell Grasberg mine to Barrick – by Jeff Lewis (Reuters U.S. – February 24, 2020)

February 25, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Reuters) – Freeport McMoRan Inc (FCX.N) is not interested in selling its Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia, Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said on Monday, tamping down speculation of a deal with Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO).

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow in recent weeks has expressed interest in buying Grasberg. Earlier this month Bristow said he sees no competition for the asset from global or state-backed Chinese miners.

That back and forth from two of the mining industry’s most-powerful executives comes as investors are expecting a wave of buyouts this year, especially for copper assets.

COLUMN-Funds sell copper as coronavirus hits physical supply chains – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – February 24, 2020)

February 24, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Funds have given up on their early-year hopes for higher copper prices. Investors have turned bearish on the CME copper contract , slashing long positions and putting on fresh bets for lower prices.

The net money manager short is now back at levels last seen in the third quarter of 2019, when market sentiment hit a “trade war” trough. The deadly coronavirus has frozen the expected Chinese manufacturing recovery story and is now showing signs of spreading to South Korea, another industrial powerhouse.

While equity markets have been taking a more sanguine view of the medium-term economic impact of the virus, copper is starting to price in the multiple short-term impacts on the physical supply chain.

Ivanhoe’s Friedland hits out at ‘fiction’ that mining copper in Chile is safer than Congo – by Brendan Ryan (MiningMX.com – February 11, 2020)

February 11, 2020

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BILLIONAIRE mining entrepreneur, Robert Friedland, put the boot into Chile and its established major copper mining groups.

Friedland, whose company Ivanhoe Mines is developing major new copper and zinc mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said at the Mining Indaba last week: “It’s absolutely silly to think that Chile is a safe place to mine and should have a three or four per cent discount rate and, somehow, the DRC should have a 12% discount rate.

“There’s this fiction that somehow Africa is dangerous and it’s safe for industry to go to Chile or Peru. I challenge that. I would rather be in Africa – in the DRC – which was the world’s largest producer of copper until Chile got invented in the 1970’s.”

BHP tries to delay China shipments due to virus – by Sarah Danckert and Nick Toscano (Brisbane Times – February 9, 2020)

February 10, 2020

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/

BHP Group is starting to feel the impact of the coronavirus on its business with the mining giant in talks with its Chinese customers to delay shipments of copper concentrate as plants are shutdown around the nation.

BHP confirmed on Sunday that it is working with its customers in China to stem the impact of the virus on its exports after importers in China were offered force majeure certificates by the country’s international trade promotion agency.

In response, suppliers are considering giving buyers in China flexibility on deliveries to discourage them from declaring force majeure, offering them a way out of contractual obligations.

Chile’s copper output down in 2019 on declining grades – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 10, 2020)

February 10, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Copper production in 2019 in Chile, the world’s No. 1 producer of the metal, dropped by 44,000 tonnes compared to 2018, amid a perfect storm of falling ore grades at the largest deposits, water scarcity and operational issues.

Cochilco, the country’s copper commission, said Codelco, the state-owned giant, was the miner most affected by aging mines as its production declined by 5.6% in 2019 to about 100,000 tonnes.

The impact of such a fall at a national level was offset by results at other mines, such as Barrick’s Zaldívar, Lundin’s Candelaria and Antofagasta’s Centinela.

Barrick Gold denies Freeport-McMoran tie-up in the works – by Helen Reid (Reuters U.S. – February 6, 2020)

February 6, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Barrick Gold is not looking to merge with copper miner Freeport-McMoran, CEO Mark Bristow said on Thursday, although he is interested in the company’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia, and indicated he wants to expand in the Pacific Rim.

Rumors the world’s second-largest gold miner planned to combine with Freeport are “completely wrong”, Bristow told Reuters on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town.

But he said he was interested in Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia – the world’s largest gold mine, and second-largest copper mine. “People say, are you interested in Grasberg? I say I have to be, it’s a tier one asset,” he said. Tier one assets refer to high-grade, long-life mines.

Bill to ban copper-nickel mining draws sharp contrast between Boundary Waters, Iron Range – by Dan Kraker (Minnesota Public Radio News – February 6, 2020)

February 6, 2020

https://www.mprnews.org/

A bill that would ban copper-nickel mining on a huge swath of federal land near the Boundary Waters got its first hearing in Congress Wednesday in Washington.

But the fight over the legislation — and what it stands for — got underway on Minnesota’s Iron Range last week, in a packed union hall in the city of Virginia. “I am tired of the Iron Range having to endure these attacks on our way of life,” Pete Stauber, the Republican congressman who represents the region, told the crowd.

When Stauber says “our way of life,” he means mining. Iron ore mines have operated for well over a century in northeastern Minnesota. There are fourth-generation miners working there today, descendants of immigrants who mined the ore that made the steel that helped win world wars.

UPDATE 1-China Feb copper output to fall on virus woes, zinc backlog builds – Antaike – by Tom Daly (Reuters U.S. – February 5, 2020)

February 6, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, Feb 5 (Reuters) – China’s copper smelters will reduce output by more than 15% in February from last month due to the coronavirus outbreak, research house Antaike said, warning zinc production could also drop if transport restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of the disease are not eased soon.

Base metal prices slumped last week as the number of coronavirus deaths and infections rose, spurring fears the outbreak will reduce economic activity and metals demand in China, the world’s biggest copper and zinc consumer.

The death toll in China rose to 490 on Wednesday. Weak downstream demand, high inventories of sulphuric acid and logistical problems mean it is inevitable there will be some reduction in copper output this month, Antaike said in a note late on Tuesday, adding its estimate of more than 15% was conservative and March output may also be affected.

Ivanhoe’s giant Kamoa-Kakula copper project in DRC keeps getting bigger – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 5, 2020)

February 5, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) has unveiled a fresh set of mind-boggling figures from its flagship copper project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirming that the already large asset has room to grow.

The updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) puts the combined Kamoa-Kakula project at 423 million tonnes grading 4.68% copper, at a 3% cut off. Indicated mineral resource, in turn, now stands at 1.4 billion tonnes grading 2.7% copper, at a 1% cut-off.

The 400 km2 mining concession comprises two large, near-surface, flat-lying, stratiform copper deposits. One of them, Kakula, is being fast-tracked to commercial production, with the initial 3.8-million-tonne-a-year mining operation scheduled to produce first concentrate in the third quarter of 2021.

Column: Nickel and copper are bull stand-outs in base metals poll – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – January 30, 2020)

January 31, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Nickel and copper are the bull stand-outs in the latest Reuters poll of base metals analysts, with both set to rise in price over the next two years thanks to supply constraints and expected market deficits.

All the other base metals are expected to fall in price this year at least, with zinc and lead set to underperform over the next two years as those markets transition from supply shortfall to surplus.

Supply is the clear differentiator in the poll findings. Demand is widely expected to recover from the synchronised weakness of 2019. Or at least it was.

All of Chile’s copper mines to run in ‘extremely high water-stressed’ areas by 2040 – by Michael McCrae (Kitco.com – January 29, 2020)

January 30, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

Between 30 to 50 percent of production for copper, gold, iron ore, and zinc is concentrated in areas where water stress is already high, reported McKinsey in a recent study looking at climate change and miners.

With climate change, the consultancy warned that water shortages will get worse for miners leading to social and technical challenges. “In Chile, 80 percent of copper production is already located in extremely high water-stressed and arid areas; by 2040, it will be 100 percent.

In Russia, 40 percent of the nation’s iron ore production, currently located in high water-stressed areas, is likely to move to extreme water stress by 2040,” writes the study’s authors.

OPINION EXCHANGE: Counterpoint: Why a green world will need more copper – by Ryan Sistad (Minneapolis Star Tribune – January 29, 2020)

January 30, 2020

http://www.startribune.com/

Ryan Sistad, of Duluth, is outreach coordinator for Better in Our Backyard. https://www.betterinourbackyard.com/

Supply and demand are subject to change — unpredictable change in policies or in the marketplace — which makes it incredibly important to have a plan in place to supply our economy with what it needs to grow and thrive.

When it comes to transitioning to a reduced-carbon or carbon-free energy economy, Minnesota is truly faced with this new supply and demand challenge. All of this makes the question asked Jan. 23 in “We don’t need more mining to go green” confusing.

The author asks: “[I]s it actually urgent to pull more copper and nickel out of the ground?” He then claims that in debates over mining copper and nickel in Minnesota “what goes largely undiscussed are the actual supply and demand forces around primary copper and nickel.”

Freeport CEO ‘looking forward’ to deals once expansion projects done – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters Canada – January 28, 2020)

January 29, 2020

https://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Freeport-McMoran Inc (FCX.N), the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, would consider acquisitions, mergers or other deals once three ongoing expansion projects finish by 2022, Chief Executive Richard Adkerson said in an interview on Tuesday.

Demand for copper is projected to surge this decade because of the rising popularity of electric vehicles, which use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines. That, in turn, is expected to fuel an M&A wave across the sector.

Despite that, Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport’s shares are worth half what they were in 2010, dragged down by uncertainty over the company’s stake in a major Indonesian mine and debt from an ill-fated oil and gas venture.