Expectations for a rise in zinc concentrate supplies in coming years have driven down the metal price to one-year lows, but smelting capacity constraints suggest the sell-off is premature.
Swedish Sandvik, which makes metal-cutting tools and mining gear, reported record-high quarterly earnings and orders on Tuesday on the back of a broad rise in demand, with its mining unit a particular stand-out
Nobody who owns a copper mine wants to give it up. Even when Glencore and Anglo American Plc were crippled by debt during the 2015 commodity slump, neither was willing to entertain an offer from Rio for their holdings in the giant Collahuasi deposit in Chile.
Starting on July 30, the LME will start providing a set of synthetic monthly prices for the six main base metals — copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel and tin.