Copper – Page 92 – Republic of Mining

The Price Is Wrong? US Mining Giant in Divestment Talks With Indonesia – by Rui Hao Puah (The Diplomat – January 23, 2016)

January 22, 2016

Freeport McMoRan Inc enters another stage of its contract renegotiation with Jakarta.

Last week, U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan Inc’s Indonesian unit submitted a divestment price to the Indonesian government for an additional stake in one of the world’s biggest copper mines, part of a process to allow the firm to extend its right to operate in the country beyond 2021.

According to Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s minerals and coal director general, Bambang Gatot Ariyono, Freeport had valued its Indonesian asset at $16.2 billion, with the divestment offered to the government being valued at $1.7 billion for a 10.46 percent stake.

Some Indonesian officials and lawmakers have already described the $1.7 billion price tag for Freeport’s huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua as too high.

Yukon mine slows operations, announces layoffs as copper prices slump – by Chuck Tobin (Canadian Press/Globe and Mail – January 19, 2016)

January 20, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

WHITEHORSE — Declining copper prices are forcing Yukon’s only hard-rock mine to curtail operations and layoff dozens of workers, says a senior manager.

The Minto Mine, owned by Capstone Mining Corp., is located about 240 kilometres north of Whitehorse and is an open-pit and underground copper operation, producing gold-and-silver byproducts.

Mine manager Ron Light said Tuesday the company plans to stop underground mining at the end of March and will halt open-pit mining in August. He said about 40 contract miners who work underground and are employed by Dumas Mine Contracting will be affected.

Oil and copper plunge to new depths as anxiety over China mounts – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – January 12, 2016)

January 12, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The great commodity slump has entered a new and dangerous stage, with two of the globe’s most important raw materials diving to fresh depths on growing fears of a Chinese slowdown.

Oil plunged to its lowest point since 2003 on Monday, as West Texas intermediate (WTI), the North American benchmark, declined to $31.12 (U.S.) a barrel. It has lost 15 per cent of its value in the first few days of 2016.

Copper, meanwhile, tumbled to a six-year low of $1.97 a pound. The metal, used for a wide variety of industrial and construction applications, is down more than 9 per cent in January.

Mounting anxiety over China is to blame for much of the recent havoc in commodity prices. The Asian giant’s frenetic growth propelled the world’s booming demand for raw materials over the past decade and its deceleration has already inflicted major damage on commodity prices.

[KGHM] Poland studies energy sector mergers, copper concerns (Reuters U.S. – January 11, 2016)

January 11, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

WARSAW – Poland surprised the markets on Monday with plans to merge its biggest oil and gas firms to forge central Europe’s No.1 energy company and prevent any hostile takeover threat.

Treasury minister Dawid Jackiewicz is considering tie-ups between the state-run oil refiners PKN Orlen PKN.WA and Lotos LTSP.WA, and gas firm PGNiG PGN.WA, with the analysis to be ready by the end of this quarter.

Put together their joint market value would stand at 60 billion zlotys ($15 billion), almost twice as much as Austria’s OMV (OMVV.VI) and three times the market cap of Hungary’s MOL MOLB.BU.

Copper hammered, falls below $US2 a pound – by Luzi Ann Javier (Bloomberg News/Australian Financial Review – January 8, 2016)

January 8, 2016

http://www.afr.com/

Copper futures fell below $US2 a pound for the first time in more than six years as a slump across industrial metals deepened on concern that China’s economic slowdown is worsening.

The retreat in prices helped send a gauge of world mining companies to the lowest since 2004 on Thursday, led by Freeport- McMoRan and Anglo American. The Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex tumbled 27 per cent in 2015, the worst loss since the global recession of 2008.

Weak Chinese economic reports this week triggered turmoil across global markets and billionaire George Soros warned of a crisis.

UPDATE 1-Canada’s Imperial Metals latest to shutter some copper production (Reuters U.S. – January 6, 016)

January 7, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Jan 6, 2016 – Canada’s Imperial Metals Corp on Wednesday suspended pit operations at its Huckleberry copper mine in British Columbia, becoming the latest in the industry to curtail production after a 50 percent slump in the metal’s price in the past five years.

Imperial said it would lay off 100 of its 260 workers at Huckleberry, retaining the rest to mill stockpiled ore. Milling the stockpile is just a temporary measure expected to last around three months, Imperial spokesman Steve Robertson said.

He declined to speculate what would happen at the end of three months but did say the mine needed a “substantial” increase in the copper price and an additional drop in the value of the Canadian dollar before it could re-start pit mining.

Supermines Add to Supply Glut of Metals – by John W. Miller (Wall Street Journal – January 4, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

CERRO VERDE, Peru—In this volcanic desert, a dusty moonscape patrolled by bats, snakes and guanacos, America’s biggest miner is piling on to the new force in industrial resources: supermines. It’s a strategy that could be driving miners into the ground.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. is completing a yearslong $4.6 billion expansion that will triple production at its Cerro Verde copper mine, turning a once-tiny, unprofitable state mine into one of the world’s top five copper producers.

As Cerro Verde’s towering concrete concentrators grind out copper to be made into pipes and wires in Asia, it will add to production coming from newly built giant mines around the world, in a wave of supply that is compounding the woes of the depressed mining sector.

Copper, Nickel Rebound as China Intervenes in Stock Market – by Agnieszka De Sousa and Luzi-Ann Javier (Bloomberg News – January 5, 2016)

January 6, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Copper climbed the most in two weeks and nickel gained after China sought to support its stock market following Monday’s rout that sent metal prices tumbling.

State-controlled funds in China bought equities and regulators signaled a selling ban on major investors will remain beyond this week’s expiration date, according to people familiar with the matter. Most metals traded in London and a gauge of mining shares rose.

On Monday, copper fell the most in three weeks, helping take an index of six main contracts on the London Metal Exchange to its biggest slump since September after a plunge in mainland China shares triggered a trading halt.

In Peru, Distrust of Miners Remains, Even Amid Development – by John W. Miller and Ryan Dube (Wall Street Journal – January 4, 2015)

January 5, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

AREQUIPA, Peru—The China-led commodity boom has lifted Peru, now the world’s second biggest copper exporter, out of poverty, but mining companies say it is one of the most difficult countries to do business in.

Skepticism about foreign mining firms is deeply ingrained. This year alone, a dozen people have been killed in mining protests.

Economists say mining has been key to Peru’s robust economic growth during the past decade, helping reduce poverty from almost 60% in 2004 to just over 20% last year.

For lower- and middle-class Peruvians, the picture isn’t so clear. Mining “is not a good thing, but it gives us money,” said Daisy Araujo, 28-year-old mother of four whose husband works in an underground gold mine 12 hours away. She sees him for a few days every month.

Thousands of NM jobs rely on Copper Mine Rule – by Jason Espinoza (Las Cruces Sun-News – December 27, 2015)

January 5, 2016

http://www.lcsun-news.com/

Jason Espinoza is the President of ACI, New Mexico’s statewide business advocate.

New Mexico needs jobs. We can all agree that we want New Mexicans to have good opportunities and prosperous lives. For that to be possible, the state must do everything it can to create an environment where businesses can succeed.

To do so, it’s important to have thoughtful, responsible laws that protect our environment and natural resources, while providing businesses with clear and predictable regulations within which to operate.

If we set regulatory hurdles too high, or let our regulations fall out of date, New Mexicans will miss out on jobs and opportunities as employers choose to take their business elsewhere. But if we find the right balance, we can preserve the beauty of our state while helping our people flourish.

Freeport-McMoRan Executive Chairman Moffett to Resign – by Bradley Olson (Wall Street Journal – December 28, 2015)

January 5, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Executive Chairman James R. Moffett, a legendary wildcatter who helped discover and develop one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines, is stepping down months after activist investor Carl Icahn took a 8.5% stake in the company.

Mr. Moffett is the second energy executive to leave his post this month under Mr. Icahn’s watchful eye, following the ouster of Charif Souki, chief executive of natural-gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc.
The shake-ups are another sign of the commodities price rout in energy and mining and indicate a shift in leadership ranks from pioneering company founders to more seasoned crisis managers.

Shares in Freeport-McMoRan, the nation’s largest mining company, in midday trading on Monday fell 8% to $6.95, and are down by more than two-thirds so far this year.

KGHM seeks global status amid commodities downturn – by Henry Foy (Financial Times – December 30, 2015)

January 4, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

Lubin – A kilometre below the rolling countryside of south-west Poland, scores of men labour in hot, cramped tunnels mining copper that has made KGHM Europe’s second-largest producer of the red metal.

Yet the future of the Polish miner lies halfway around the world, in the rocky hills of Ontario, Canada, and the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

There, the success of two big investments will determine whether KGHM becomes Poland’s first truly global company, or an overambitious regional player that failed to achieve international status.

The state-controlled group has already spent more than $7bn on acquiring and developing the Canadian and Chilean mines, assets that give it control of the world’s fourth-largest copper deposits.

Mining millions and corrupt politicians in Indonesia scandal – by Jeremy Mulholland ( The Australian – December 22, 2015)

December 23, 2015

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Indonesia has been rocked by extraordinary revelations about top-level negotiations with one of the world’s most profitable mining companies, Freeport-McMoRan, which operates in the high mountains of West Papua province.

A leaked recording of an informal meeting has exposed the then chair of Indonesia’s national parliament, Setya Novanto, and oil tycoon Riza Chalid attempting to secure by gift a $US4 billion ($6.1bn), 20 per cent stake in Freeport’s mines, plus a proposed hydro-electric power plant.

The scandal, denounced as the worst to hit Indonesia, has incited demands for a thorough public investigation. At the heart of the row is Freeport’s desire to quickly secure an extension of its contract — which expires in 2021 — for control of one of the biggest gold and copper mines in the world.

UPDATE 2-Peru sees 66 pct spike in copper output next year thanks to Las Bambas (Reuters U.S. – December 21, 2015)

December 22, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Dec 21 Peru’s government said on Monday that copper output in the world’s third biggest producer should rise 65.5 percent in 2016 to about 2.5 million tonnes after MMG Ltd’s massive Las Bambas project starts operations in February.

Ongoing talks with leaders in communities where protests against Las Bambas turned deadly in September have been positive and have not held up the $7.4 billion project, Energy and Mines Minister Rosa Maria Ortiz said.

The Las Bambas mine, in the highland region Apurimac, should produce between 250,000 and 300,000 tonnes of copper in 2016, Ortiz said.

A glimmer of hope for copper bulls in 2016? – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – December 17, 2015)

December 18, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – It’s been a tough year for copper bulls.

One of the industrial metals most associated with the boom years in China has been hit hard by the country’s lurch away from its previous fixed-asset investment growth model.

Talk of the “new normal” and of a Chinese “slowdown” doesn’t capture the severity of the demand shock experienced by all the metals, copper included.

On the London Metal Exchange the price of three-month copper peaked at $6,481 per tonne in early May, since when it’s ground steadily lower to a current $4,550.