Nexa Resources SA, the world's fourth-largest zinc producer, intends to increase its investment in copper as the market is generally bullish on copper's long-term prospects as the world's major economies achieve carbon neutrality.

Rodrigo Menck, Nexa Resources SA's chief financial officer, said the company was mainly interested in copper and was considering expanding existing mining projects, with a series of potential new projects and acquisitions under review.

Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nexa Resources SA aims to develop new projects in the Americas and Africa because of its mines and smelters in Brazil and Peru.

Nexa Resources is conducting a five-year exploration in Namibia in southwestern Africa and has set up a subsidiary in Ecuador in South America, which Menck calls "the new frontier of mineral exploration."

, Nexa Resources's mining work in Peru was interrupted last year due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus's epidemic, while reduced market demand caused the company's Juiz de Fora smelter in Brazil to stop production due to the economic blockade. Menck said that although the epidemic is still worrying, production in Brazil and Peru has now rebounded.

Affected by the epidemic, Nexa Resources's capital expenditure budget for 2021 increased by about 13% to US $510 million, mainly for the Aripuana zinc mine in Brazil.

Despite the high uncertainty in the short term, Nexa Resources takes a positive view on the long-term outlook for zinc and copper, with Menck forecasting an average price of $2700-$3000 a tonne for zinc and $8500-$9700 a tonne for copper in the second half of this year. Thanks to the surge in zinc mine prices and increased production last quarter, Nexa Resources's debt ratio fell by 1.19 times, financing its new investment.

, Nexa Resources is said to be interested in extending the development of an underground mine in Morro Agudo, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and also sees the Magistral copper mine in Peru as a potential project.