Copper

The spread between the cash LME copper contract and benchmark three-month futures spiked to a premium for the first time in 19 months on Friday.

It rocketed to $249 a metric ton, the highest since November 2021, compared to a discount, or contango, of $119 two days ago.

Copper prices on COMEX have surged as investors seek to price in potential tariffs, with the premium of COMEX over LME at $1,050 a ton on Friday, down from a record peak of $1,153 a day earlier.

Source – Mining.com

Glencore owns the Mutanda copper cobalt mine and has 75% stake in Kamoto Copper Company leaving the mines value at $6.8 billion dollars.

The full article is published under Financial Times. I am unable to share more info on this topic but please check out the link.

In the latest market close, Ero Copper Corp. (ERO) reached $13.17, with a +1.15% movement compared to the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.27%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.51%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.03%.

The the stock of company has fallen by 6.67% in the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector’s gain of 7.68% and the S&P 500’s gain of 4.27%.

The company’s earnings report is set to go public on March 6, 2025.

Source – Zacks.com

On Wednesday, TD Securities shifted its stance on ERO Copper Corp (ERO:CN) (OTC: ERRPF), raising the stock rating from Hold to Buy, while adjusting the price target to Cdn$23.00, down from the previous Cdn$26.00. The upgrade reflects a change in sentiment based on the company’s current share price and its future growth prospects.

The analysts at TD Securities anticipate a significant turnaround in free cash flow (FCF) starting in the second quarter of 2025. They project a 95% year-over-year improvement in copper production for the current year, with expectations for continued growth into 2026.

Source – Investing.com

Indonesia has restricted raw material exports to pressure companies to refine minerals locally and add value to its exports. Freeport has local refining capacity, but is seeking to keep exporting concentrate due to a fire last October at its Manyar smelterin East Java.

Should exports resume, it will relieve, although not reverse, a shortage of copper concentrate that has hit the profits of smelters.

Source – Reuters

While no official tariff has been imposed, the price gap between the CME and London Metal Exchange (LME) contracts has widened sharply, with CME copper trading at a premium exceeding $1,000 per metric ton. This suggests the market is pricing in at least a 10% tariff, though a 25% duty, similar to those on aluminum and steel, remains a possibility.

Source – Econo Times

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