Kitco News released its 2021 outlook, which provides the most comprehensive forecast for the metal market in the new year.
In 2020, trillions of dollars flooded into financial markets, and these funds will not easily leave without harvest. Economists expect investors to prepare for inflation in 2021
Copper prices recorded a multi-year increase in 2020, and investors expect the economy to be more optimistic in 2021.
Copper for delivery on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit its highest level since February 2013 at $8028 a tonne on December 18.
Goldman Sachs (Goldman Sachs) is bullish on copper prices. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the current upward trend in copper prices is likely to continue into 2022, and copper prices are expected to hit the $10000 / tonne mark for the second time in history.
"the current price strength is not irrational," said Nicholas Snowdon, a metals strategist. "on the contrary, we think it is the first step in a structural bull market in copper."
But can copper mines keep up? What are the new sources of supply?
Copper production is likely to decline in 2020. Global copper supply is likely to fall by about 257000 tonnes, 1.2 per cent less than in 2019, with Peru (14.5 per cent), Australia (7.5 per cent) and Mexico (4.5 per cent) most affected, according to industry experts.
However, the global copper mining industry is expected to increase copper production by 1.36 million tons to 21.4 million tons in 2021, with most of the increase coming from Peru (315000 tons), Chile (175000 tons), the United States (112000 tons) and China (82000 tons).
Chile, the world's largest copper producer, is expected to produce 5.82 million tonnes of copper in 2020, up 0.6 per cent from 2019, according to (Cochilco), Chile's national copper commission. In 2021, the country's copper production is expected to reach 5.99 million tons. A strong project portfolio will help Chile's long-term copper production increase by up to 7 million tons per year.
Countries with increased copper supply in 2021 may also include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Panama.
The following are the world's top 10 copper mines by production in 2019, which will have a significant impact on the overall long-term health of the same industry around the world. Five of them are in Chile, three in Peru, one in the United States and one in Mexico. The output of these ten copper mines accounted for more than 1/4 of the world's copper production last year.
(Escondida), the Escondida copper mine owned by BHP (BHP), remains the world's largest copper mine, with copper production of 1.158 million tonnes in 2019, down 4 per cent from a year earlier.
The Collahuasi mine, jointly owned by Anglo American group (Anglo American) and Glencore (Glencore), is also located in Chile, the world's second-largest copper mine, with production of 565000 tons in 2019.
The third largest copper mine is also in Chile. Chile's (Codelco) El Teniente mine, which produced 460000 tons of copper in 2019, is on a par with the Morenci mine owned by Freeport-McMoRan of the United States and moved up three places.
Copper production at Chile's Chuquicamata copper mine, owned by Chilean National Copper, surged 20 per cent in 2019, making it the eighth largest copper mine in the world.
Not all copper mines performed strongly in 2019. As expected, Grasberg, which was the third-largest copper mine in 2018, slipped out of the top 10 in 2019. Due to the depletion of open-pit mining and the conversion to underground mining, the output of the mine dropped by 51% in 2019.
1. Escondida copper mine Chile 1.158 million tons
The Escondida copper mine, located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, is the world's largest copper mine by volume. The mine opened in 1990 and is one of the deepest open-pit mines in the world. Escondida copper is controlled and managed by BHP Billiton (57.5 per cent), with Rio Tinto (30 per cent) and Japan Escondida (12.5 per cent) as other co-owners. The mine accounts for about 6 per cent of global copper production.
2. Collahuasi copper mine Chile 565000 tons
Collahuasi is the second largest copper mine in Chile and the world, jointly owned by Anglo American (44 per cent), Glencore (44 per cent) and Japan's Mitsui Group (12 per cent). The mine is located at a high altitude between 3000 and 5000 meters above sea level. Most of the copper concentrate produced by the Collahuasi copper mine is sold to Chinese smelters for further refining.
3. El Teniente copper mine Chile 460000 tons
El Teniente copper mine is currently the largest underground copper mine in the world, and it is also one of the largest copper deposits in the world. It is located in the Andes region of central Chile about 2300 meters above sea level. The Chilean state-owned copper mining company, National Copper, which owns and operates El Teniente, plans to increase production of the mine to more than 500000 tons per year by 2025.
4. Morenci copper mine 460000 tons in the United States
The Morenci copper mine, located 16 kilometers south of Silver City, Arizona, is the largest copper mine in North America. The mine is jointly owned by Freeport (Freeport) and Sumitomo (Sumitomo), and Freeport is the main owner and operator. Production at the open-pit mine fell to 431000 tons in 2018, down 7 per cent from 2017.
5. Cerro Verde copper-molybdenum mine Peru 455000 tons
Cerro Verde, another mine owned by Freeport, is an open-pit copper-molybdenum mine about 20 miles southwest of (Arequipa) in Arekipa, Peru. In addition to Freeport, other shareholders in the mine include Sumitomo Metals' Dutch subsidiary SMM Cerro Verde (21%, Compa?iade Minas Buenaventura (19.58% and public shareholders (5.86%).
6. Antamina Copper Mine Peru 449000 tons
The Antamina open-pit mine is located in the Andes, about 270km north of Lima, Peru. The mine is jointly owned by BHP Billiton (33.75%), Glencore (33.75%), Tektronix Resources (22.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%). In addition to copper, the Antamina mine also produces silver, bismuth, molybdenum and lead.
7. Buenavista copper mine Mexico 438000 tons
The Buna Vista (Buenavista) copper mine, also known as Cananea, is one of the largest copper deposits in the world. It is located about 35 kilometers south of Sonora on the U.S.-Mexico border. It is controlled by Mexico's Grupo and is one of the oldest open-pit mines in North America.
8. Chuquicamata copper mine Chile 385000 tons
Chuquicamata is one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world and the second deepest in the world, located 1650 kilometers north of Santiago, Chile. The mine (commonly known as Chuqui) has been in operation since 1910. This century-old copper mine is owned and operated by Chile's National Copper Corporation.
9. Las Bambas Copper Mine Peru 383000 tons
Las Bambas Copper Mine is a joint venture between China Minmetals Resources Co., Ltd and CITIC Metals Co., Ltd. The open-pit mine has mineral reserves of 7.2 million tons and mineral resources of 12.6 million tons. Minmetals Resources estimates that the output of copper concentrate will exceed 2 million tons in the next few years.
10. Los Pelambres copper mine Chile 363000 tons
The Los Pilambres (Los Pelambres) copper mine, owned by Antofagasta (Antofagasta), is located in the Cojimbo (Coquimbo) region of Chile, 240km north-east of Chile. The ore produces copper concentrate (containing gold and silver in the concentrate) and molybdenum concentrate through grinding and flotation.
