Copper News Roundup

SHANGHAI, Aug 24 (SMM) – This is copper news roundup for last week.

1. Codelco said that the third group of workers at the Andina copper mine in central Chile began a strike on August 17, bringing the number of strikers in the sector to more than 1,000. After the Suplant union members voted to reject the offer made by the management after mediation and negotiation, they started an indefinite strike at 8 am local time. Earlier, members of the SIIL and SUL unions of the copper mine started a strike on August 12 after salary negotiations failed. Andina produced 184,437 mt of copper concentrate last year, and production of open-pit mines and underground operations have stopped due to the strike. Codelco plans to commission the $1.4 billion Andina transfer project later this year, which will relocate the primary crusher plant to expand the sector’s open-pit mining operations. However, this year's high copper prices have led the union to demand higher participation in the lucrative profits of the mining company.

2. The 2021 semi-annual report disclosed by Zijin Mining shows that net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first half of 2021 stood at 6,649,028,398 yuan, an increase of 174.60% year-on-year, and output of copper stood at 555,872 mt, an increase of 6.52 year-on-year. Copper production from copper concentrate stood at 240,626 mt, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. Copper output through smelting stood at 315,246 mt, a year-on-year increase of 8.28%. In the first half of the year, a number of key projects of Zijin achieved milestone breakthroughs. The  first sequence of Phase I Kamoa-Kakula Copper Mine was completed and put into production, becoming the world's highest-quality super-large copper mine in production; the beneficiation system in the upper ore zone of the Timok copper-gold mine in Serbia commenced trial production; the key project of the first phase of the Qulong Copper Mine in Tibet are progressing as scheduled. Overseas business is growing rapidly and overseas mineral resources far exceed domestic resources. Output of mineral products, mining assets and profits have exceeded or approached half of the company's total, and are expected to surpass domestically within two years. Copper output from copper concentrate at overseas projects stood at 102,700 mt.

3. Local community leaders said that residents near Minmetals Peru’s Las Bambas copper mine cleared a roadblock on a metal transportation road. Wilber Fuentes, chairman of the Chumbivilcas Defense Front, said that local residents promised to lift the blockade after a roundtable meeting scheduled for August 28. Earlier last week, the two parties reached a two-week armistice agreement after the Castillo government promised to resolve the conflict.