Peru’s Energy and Mines Minister Jorge Montero expects mining investment in the world’s third-largest copper producer to reach $4.8 billion this year, and output of the red metal to be 2.8 million metric tons, he said on Tuesday.
Source – Reuters
A Chilean startup backed by BHP Group has delivered its first copper cathodes from a demonstration plant at a mine site in northern Chile as the industry looks to squeeze out more metal from lower quality ore.
Ceibo and firms such as Jetti Resources LLC and Rio Tinto Group’s Nuton venture are looking to roll out catalysts for liberating copper from low-grade ore that miners previously saw as too expensive and difficult to process.
Source – Mining.com
Copper cathode – is high quality copper that is produced through the process of electrolysis.
Electrolysis – is an electric current that passes through a substance to have a chemical change.
Panama has approved First Quantum Minerals’ maintenance plan for its closed copper mine in the country, but not a re-start of the site, a top trade official said on Friday
Trade and Industry Minister Julio Molto said the plan included environmental safety measures that were necessary following the abrupt shut-down by government order under the prior administration in late 2023.
“The mine is not being reopened. We’re authorizing the implementation of the care and safe management plan to ensure it is environmentally protected,” Molto told a press conference.
He said that experts estimate that process could take three to six months, accounting for environmental measures.
Source – Reuters
Poland’s copper mining tax will fall from next year under a new system that will provide deductions related to investment spending, Polish finance minister Andrzej Domanski said on Friday.
The tax on mineral extraction, including copper, was introduced in 2012. Poland’s biggest copper miner KGHM paid 3.87 billion zlotys in tax in 2024, according to its annual report.
“By taking care of investments in Poland, by taking care of the development of KGHM, we also take care of the collective security of the West and the European Union.”
Source – Reuters
Unusually large shipments of copper to the United States are unlikely to abate as long as the threat of tariffs hangs over the market and price premiums for the metal on U.S.-based COMEX make deals profitable for traders and producers, analysts said.
COMEX copper hit a record high at $11,633 a metric ton on March 26, creating a premium of more than $1,570 a ton against the benchmark contract on the London Metal Exchange.
“We expect 250,000-300,000 tons of extra copper will be shipped to the U.S. over March-May because of the spread and amid the uncertainties regarding the tariff,” said Sharon Ding, head of China basic materials at UBS Investment Research.
“It’s possible we’ll see more atypical cargos in the second half of May,” Kpler analyst Ben Ayre said. “While the COMEX price continues to run at a premium to the LME there’s a strong incentive to land refined copper in the United States.”
Source – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariff on copper imports has generated a mass relocation of physical metal, swamping the U.S. market and draining the rest of the world.
The physical response has been so powerful that it has caused the futures arbitrage between the CME contract and the London Metal Exchange (LME) price to collapse.
CME copper inventory has risen by 81% since the start of the year and is now at an eight-year high of 168,563 short tons (152,919 metric tons).
LME copper inventory has slumped to a one-year low of 179,375 tons, with 40% of what remains awaiting physical load-out.
China’s imports of refined copper fell 5% on a year-over-year basis and 20% on a quarter-over-quarter basis in the January-March period as metal was diverted to the U.S.
Source – Reuters
Attorneys representing the San Carlos Apache Tribe are asking the judge to grant an injunction pausing a land swap from the U.S. government to Resolution Copper
During the hearing, attorneys representing the tribe asked a federal judge to grant a temporary injunction pausing an upcoming land swap from the U.S. government to mining giant Resolution Copper.
Attorneys for the tribe argued May 7 that a pause is necessary as the Supreme Court considers whether to take up the case.
Source – ABC 15 Arizona
Pataz has become Peru’s largest gold-producing region, in no small part due to artisan or informal mines, which operate under temporary REINFO permits.
“Gold is a curse for Pataz,” the mayor of Pataz, Aldo Mariño, told Reuters.
He said that despite the area’s great mineral wealth, his community lives in poverty, without basic services and on deteriorating or unpaved roads.
“This has been going on for several years, with the difference that now everything has collapsed. It’s due to the absence of the State,” he said. “People continue to die.”
Poderosa has reported the deaths of 39 workers in recent years in attacks on its facilities or small mines that supply it with gold. And in the last four years, 15 of the company’s high-voltage towers have been destroyed with explosives.
Source – Reuters
Mining in Peru’s northern district of Pataz will be suspended for 30 days, President Dina Boluarte said on Monday, after 13 gold mine workers in the area were kidnapped and killed by illegal miners.
On Sunday, miner Poderosa said the bodies of 13 workers from a local firm, R&R, which held a mining contract with Poderosa, had been recovered by police after they were kidnapped last month.
“The armed forces will take control of the area where Poderosa operates,” Boluarte said, but did not provide details on how the mining pause would work.
Peru is the world’s third-largest copper producer, but the deposits of the red metal are largely in the south. Gold and silver are mined in the north.
Jorge Montoro, said the 30-day pause could be extended.
Source – Reuters
Construction continues to advance on schedule and first copper production is still targeted before the end of 2025. Overall project completion was at 78% as of March 31, 2025.
“The project is in great shape and Florence Copper will soon become a major new supplier of copper cathode for the US market. The project is uniquely positioned to produce and sell refined copper inside the United States and potentially benefit from premium COMEX copper pricing in the coming years.”
Source – Yahoo Finance