China’s unwrought copper imports declined by 7.2% year-on-year to 837,000 metric tons in the first two months of 2025, customs data on Friday showed, due to increased domestic smelting capacity that reduced the need for additional imports.
Deliverable copper stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange stood at 268,337 tons on February 28, more than double the 83,174 tons recorded on January 3.
Source – Reuters
After 154 years of digging at Morenci, all the easily recoverable copper has been mined. Left behind are towering piles of waste rock that hold nearly 10 million tons of the metal seen as critical to global electrification. It’s a cache that could prove key to President Donald Trump’s ambition to boost US production of critical minerals.
Freeport-McMoRan Inc., which owns Morenci, is trying to develop technology that can burrow within those gigantic waste piles and extract low-grade copper that miners previously saw as too expensive and difficult to process.
“For a long time, we just didn’t think it was possible to recover any of this stuff,” said Robert Pollock, Morenci’s site manager, gazing up at a waste pile the size of a Manhattan office building. “But now, all this historical copper – we’re going after it.”
Source – Bloomberg
A man has denied knowing gold he was trying to help someone sell came from a golden toilet stolen at Blenheim Palace.
Fred Doe admitted putting James Sheen, who has previously pleaded guilty to stealing the toilet, in touch with gold dealer Bora Guccuk but said he would “never in a million years” have dealt with him if he had known it was stolen.
Mr Jones, 39, from Oxford, Mr Doe, previously known as Frederick Sines, 36, from Windsor, and 41-year-old Mr Guccuk, from west London, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges they face.
Source – BBC
The trial is still ongoing. Wow! And the “jurors heard the toilet was most likely broken up and has never been recovered.” How will they prosecute these thieves? Will they get prosecuted? Do they have enough evidence? So many questions! I’ll keep this updated. – V.
“I do think that we have really good chances now to progress that project. We have made a lot of progress,” Rio (RIO) CEO Jakob Stausholm told FT in an interview.
Source – Financial Times / Seeking Alpha
“Codelco remains a good option to grab some extra spread over sovereign bonds.”
Copper futures are up about 15% this year in New York, although part of that is due to an up-tick in buying ahead of possible tariffs.
“Good governance and high copper prices should be good for bonds. Codelco is interesting.”
Source – Bloomberg
Follow up on Stolen Gold Toilet from art exhibit at Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire
There is no evidence a man on trial in connection with the theft of a £4.8m golden toilet knew the gold he was dealing with was stolen, a jury has been told.
The prosecution said the 41-year-old’s decision not to give evidence meant he failed to answer a number of questions, including what the gold looked like when it was delivered to his jewellers in Hatton Garden.
“What clear evidence is there that Mr Guccuk did anything wrong or criminal?”
Source – BBC
