Collapse in commodity prices has come with China economy downturn and will go with its transition to the internal consumption - security of supply for strategic commodities will always stay. China is moving very fast into the Next Industrial Energy rEVolution. Electric cars and Solar Energy are the new strategic industries and part of the 5 year plan. To secure the raw materials for this leapfrog jump directly into post carbon economy there is the military plan in action. China is already centre of Lithium Universe and controls 75% of Lithium Hydroxide which goes into Tesla Batteries. Now it is the follow up plan to secure the Copper supply when asset prices are depressed. Las Bambas was the first step and now next projects will follow. Los Azules giant copper project in Argentina is very well positioned for TNR Gold and McEwen Mining for these developments.
President Of International Lithium And Non Executive Chairman of TNR Gold Buys 1 Million Shares In TNR Gold.
TNR Gold Los Azules Copper: New Argentina's Government Making Right Moves, Rob McEwen Says.
"The proud people of Argentina are taking their country back! Nobody knows the future, but now we have the hope that conservative Mauricio Macri will bring his country back where it belongs on the international arena. I expect that now, finally, country risk will become the huge value catalysis. From the article with Rob McEwen you can better understand what is really happening in Argentina already and how TNR Gold projects in Copper and Lithium will potentially benefit from these positive changes. Read more."
TNR Gold Royalty: McEwen Mining Eyeing Lower Capex Development At Giant Los Azules Copper In Argentina.
And now here we go: Rob McEwen Mr Goldcorp himself is on the road to the economic recovery in Argentina and is working on the giant Los Azules Copper to make it the success story for the proud people of Argentina. I would like to use this opportunity and send my very warm regards and the best wishes for the New Year 2016 to Rob and all his Team at McEwen Mining from all of us at TNR Gold!
Please carefully read my legal disclaimer and nothing on this educational blog must be taken as an investment advice. Always consult your qualified financial adviser before any investment decisions. Read more."
FT:
China wants to buy more copper mines to secure its supply
China will continue to acquire overseas copper mining assets to secure supply despite the uncertain outlook for commodity prices and scarcity of large projects, the vice-president of the country’s largest metal trader has said.
“China is very short of copper resources,” Jerry Jiao, vice-president of China Minmetals, told the World Copper Conference in Santiago. “The only way to make stable supply of copper resources … going overseas is the only solution.”
The world’s largest mining companies are looking to shed assets as they seek to cut their debt loads and move away from a large diversified business model focused on multiple commodities. Swiss mining company Glencore is looking to sell its Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile, while reports have also suggested that US copper miner Freeport-McMoRan may be willing to sell a stake in its El Abra mine in the South American country.
Minmetals is the owner of the big Las Bambas mine in Peru, which started shipping copper this year. It agreed to sell copper concentrate from the mine to a local unit of China’s state-owned Citic group, it said in January.
“We all know there are not many Las Bambas out there, it’s not easy to develop a huge mine,” Mr Jaio said. “It is more and more difficult to get one tonne of copper produced.”
Last December China’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said that Minmetals, which was founded in 1950, would merge with Metallurgical Corp of China, an infrastructure and construction group. That will allow the combined entity to control the whole metals value chain from mining to construction.
Last year Minmetals copper production rose to a record high of 217,000 tonnes, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
But Minmetals could face severe competition for copper assets from miners such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, who both have positive views on copper. There are also billions of assets in private equity that could bid for any projects.
Even miners with stretched balance sheets are not selling their best copper assets as the metal is expected to be in short supply by the end of the decade.
China has built out its smelting capacity over the past ten years as it has grown to consume about 40 per cent of the world’s copper. But it is still reliant on overseas mines for the raw copper material.
China’s copper consumption is akin to a “reverse pyramid,” Mr Jiao said. It consumes about 11m tonnes, and produces about 7m tonnes of copper cathode. But it can only supply 1.7m tonnes from its domestic mining.
“It’s easy for China to build a smelter but not to find resources,” he said. “Going forward [the] concentrate or mining sector will still occupy a large percentage of value along the whole value chain.”
Mr Jiao said that emerging industries in China, such as automotive and renewable energy, are increasing their intensity of copper use. But the price outlook for the metal depends on whether China can successfully transition its economy towards these new industries and away from the old industrial sectors.
“If we believe China has made a stable adjustment then we will feel at ease that copper will face a stable and balanced situation,” he said.
However, Goldman Sachs, which has been one of the most bearish banks on copper and other commodities, warned that if China’s transition to a more consumer-led economy is successful, then copper demand growth is likely to be between flat to about 3 per cent.
“At best, if China manages its bumpy deceleration, which includes a big reduction in investment share of GDP over the next three to five years, the copper market will turn,” Goldman analyst Max Layton told the conference.
“If they perfectly manage this transaction then copper markets should turn. All the other scenarios that I come up with are worse than that for copper.”
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