Long Ziping has stepped down at his legal retirement age and general manager Zheng Gaoqing will take over the top position in the integrated copper producer.

Fitch predicts prices will rise to around $2,600/tonne by the end of the year.

Cardinal's board of directors has urged shareholders to accept a revised off-market takeover proposal.

Funds are riding a wave of Chinese buying that has confounded the market and seen LME copper rise from its March low of $4,371 per tonne to a two-year high of $6,830.

In most countries, the chief objective is to minimize reliance on coal. In China, however, bureaucrats are more preoccupied with self-sufficiency.

China’s once-in-a-decade aluminum trade inversion is first and foremost down to the arbitrage window that opened in the second quarter.