Industry News Roundup for Overseas Copper Market

SHANGHAI, Oct 25 (SMM) – This is a news roundup for the overseas copper industry.

1. On October 22, Freeport stated in a statement that the world’s largest listed copper miner produced 987 million lb of copper in the third quarter, which is lower than the 1 billion lb estimated by analysts on average. The lower-than-expected output was due to lower-than-expected output from its South American and North American mines, which intensified concerns about tight supply in the global market. Freeport’s statement did not provide information that the output was lower than market expectations.

2. On October 21, Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo stated that the country is looking for an investor to resume the production of copper and cobalt at an abandoned mine, and will soon start the relevant bidding process. The mine is Kilembe, which used to be the country’s main producer of copper and cobalt, but ceased production in the 1970s.

The data released by the Uganda Geological Survey and Ministry of Mineral Resources show that the ore reserves of the mine are about 4 million mt, of which the copper content is 1.98% and the cobalt content is 0.17%.　

3. BHP Billiton released its first quarter operating report for fiscal year 2022 (as of September 30, 2021), stating that the group achieved solid operating performance during the quarter, and major maintenance of operating assets progressed in an orderly manner as planned. Due to the planned maintenance of the entire supply chain, the output of some of the Group’s mines fell in the quarter. Among them, the output of copper in the quarter was 376.5 kt, a year-on-year decrease of 9%, and the output of iron ore was 63.3 million mt, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. The output of nickel was 17.8 kt, a year-on-year decrease of 20%, and the output of coking coal was 8.9 million mt, a year-on-year decrease of 9%. The output of thermal coal was 4.2 million mt, a year-on-year increase of 17%.