Copper Industry News Roundup

SHANGHAI, Jun 30 (SMM) —  This is a roundup of news in the copper industry for last week.

Glencore plans to restart its Mutanda Mining copper and cobalt project in Congo before the end of this year. The mine has been idle for about two years. Glencore suspended production at the Mutanda project in 2019 after prices of battery metal cobalt plummeted and cost of the project rose.

Federation of Copper Workers (FTC) president Patricio Elgueta said that the FTC brought together the unions of Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco, hoping that private mines would pay 75% of the income tax, and that Codelco would pay for a leading role in major projects. FTC directors are marketing the proposal to lawmakers, other politicians and members of the Constituent Assembly.

The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) announced the preliminary statistics of world copper supply and demand data in March. Data show that in the first three months of 2021, global copper production at mines increased by 3.7%. Copper concentrate output increased by 5.5%, while solvent extraction electrowinning (SX-EW) copper production fell by 3.5%.