BHP Reports 5% Drop in Q4 Copper Production, FY2026 Output Down 3% YoY

According to market sources, Shandong Xiangguang Group Qingdao Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. ("Xiangguang Nonferrous"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yanggu Xiangguang Copper Co., Ltd. under C&D Inc.'s nonferrous metals group, has completed feedstock introduction for its copper concentrates blending project and officially entered the production and operation stage. Located at Qingdao Port, the project has an annual blending and processing capacity of 400,000 mt of copper concentrates. By blending copper concentrates from different sources and of different grades, it optimizes raw material grades and impurity indicators. Once operational, the project is expected to further enhance C&D's raw material allocation capability across the copper industry chain, increase flexibility in utilizing complex copper concentrate resources, and provide raw material support for smelting operations.

SMM, October 16: According to foreign media reports, on October 15, Kostas Bintas, global head of metals and minerals at Swiss commodity trader Mercuria, said at the Financial Times Metals and Mining Summit in London that 12,000 mt of copper from the DRC had entered Project Vault, the US critical minerals reserve program, this week as the first trial shipment. Bintas said the DRC has committed to supplying at least 100,000 mt of copper to the US through a joint venture between state-owned miner Gécamines and Mercuria, and this delivery is part of that supply arrangement, with the copper cargo now in the US strategic reserve system. Project Vault was launched in February 2026 with a planned size of about $12 billion, consisting of a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and about $2 billion in private funding, aimed at building an emergency reserve of critical minerals for US civilian industries and mitigating supply disruption risks. Mercuria previously announced in September a commitment of $500 million to the program.