Copper

Canadian miner McEwen Copper, a subsidiary of McEwen Mining, has submitted a request to join an Argentine government incentives program that would give it significant tax breaks for its Los Azules copper project in San Juan province, it said.

Once the government gives McEwen the green light, its corporate tax rate for the Los Azules project will fall from 35% to 25%, and it will be exempt from value-added tax during construction and from export duties.

Source – Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t yet imposed import tariffs on copper but the market is already pricing in the likelihood that the red metal will be next on the list after aluminium and steel.

The arbitrage between the CME and the London Metal Exchange (LME) contracts has blown wider in recent days, with the CME premium exceeding $1,000 per metric ton earlier this week.

Source – Reuters / Written by Andy Home / Opinion

Freeport’s last export permit expired at the end of 2024, but the company has requested it can continue selling copper concentrate abroad because its local copper smelter was in repair after a fire in October last year.

“The trade ministry supports a plan to relax the export policy after weighing the cost and benefit analysis … while also observing the sustainability of the government’s natural resource downstreaming policy,” deputy minister Dyah Roro Esti said in a statement.

Freeport Indonesia said that it’s currently negotiating with the government over the export permit and believed the government “would accommodate” it.

Source – Mining.com

Chilean state miner Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, is targeting production of 1.391 million metric tons of the red metal this year, according to an unpublished government decree approving its 2025 budget reviewed by Reuters.

In calculating its budget, Codelco forecast a copper price of $4.30 per pound and expects a cash cost of $1.98 per pound, the document showed.

Source – Reuters

Source – Money Metals

“These projections are supported by a rise in copper demand from the energy transition, electricity grids and a limited supply,” Claudia Rodriguez, Cochilco’s interim VP, said in a statement, adding that geopolitical tensions also played a role.

“Uncertainty about China’s economic recovery, tariffs implemented by the United States and the hardening of monetary policy could limit the demand for copper, affecting its price,” Rodriguez said.

It also expects Chile’s copper production to rise by 4.6% this year to 5.76 million tons and grow another 3.6% to 5.97 million tons in 2026.

Source – Mining.com

The EV industry in China and the world is already booming; pumping copper’s status as “the new oil”. As such, the red metal is set to rise above the current uncertainties to record significant gains in the medium to long term.

Copper has also jumped above the 50-day moving average, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has continued rising. Therefore, it will likely rebound and retest the key support at $5 in the coming weeks.

Source – Invezz

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RSI (Relative Strength Index) – is a technical indicator intended to chart the current and historical strength or weakness of a stock or market based on the closing prices of a recent trading period.

Analysts estimate that copper demand from energy transition sectors will grow at a CAGR of 10.7%, with the EV sector alone driving a 14.3% increase, solar power 5.6%, and wind applications 9.3%. Overall, the demand for copper is projected to grow at a CAGR of 2.6% through 2034.

Source – Stock News

“The next phase of getting (Zonia) into production is a bankable feasibility study so you can fund it. A bankable feasibility study is going to cost $5 million to $7 million, and we don’t have that right now,” Neal said.

“The plan is to get it there, but we’re going to need partners to help us get it there. So that’s why (we’re doing) the strategic review, and it looks like we’ll have an announcement in the next few weeks on one of these opportunities.”

Source – Investing News Network (full interview video with CEO Gord Neal)