Sulphuric Acid Surge Drives Copper Treatment Charge Decline
Fastmarkets’ latest assessment of copper concentrate treatment charges (TCs) is MINUS $107.30/t (-2.1% week-on-week), citing recent elevated sulphuric acid prices as the key reason for the persistent declines in treatment and refining charges. Smelters are getting bumper revenues from selling sulphuric acid as a byproduct, so in turn they charge less to smelt concentrate… or rather they are paying miners on average $107.30 for every tonne of concentrate they smelt.
Platreef Set to Become World's Largest Multi‑Metal Mine
@IvanhoeMines_ Platreef Mine’s #nickel sulphide resource is one of the largest nickel sulphide systems in the world at ~5.5 million tonnes of contained nickel. There is more contained nickel in sulphide at Platreef than there is remaining in Canada’s entire...
Global Trends Shaping Metals, Mining, and Markets
Always a pleasure speaking with @DavidVGreely on the @SmarterMarkets podcast, while we were at the FT Commodities Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. The podcast is 45 mins long and is everything you need to know about the current state of the...
Copper Demand Soars, Supply Lags—Prices Must Spike
@MBazilian Director of the @payneinstitute for Public Policy at the @coschoolofmines is a leading authority on supply and critical metals and coauthor of this article. Morgan is 100% right: copper demand from AI, EVs, data centers and global electrification is...
Copper Market Tightening Fast, Global Cathode Deficit Looms
Major metals trader Mercuria recently published to their clients feedback from the CESCO copper conference in Chile. We have read it and, in short, the copper market is tightening, fast. Mercuria believe that a global (ex-US) deficit in cathode is coming...
China and US Fight Tightening Copper Market
A global tug of war between the SHFE (China) and the Comex (USA) for copper
Equities Price AI; Oil Ignores Real Supply Shock
Equity markets have priced in AI, which might happen. Whereas, oil markets have NOT priced in what has already happened. ~ 1 billion barrels of oil has been lost to date… and oil prices are up only ~50%.
US‑China Stockpiling Fuels Copper Price Surge
The entire copper industry has just returned from last week’s leading copper conference in Chile (CESCO), with participants, including the world’s largest copper traders, even more bullish that all-time-high copper prices could be tested over the coming weeks. It’s become...
All of Humanity Fits Within One Fragile Arc
Every person you’ve ever loved, every city, every ocean, every war, every dream, all of it fits inside that fragile arc. Captured on an iPhone from 252,000 miles away. The most advanced camera of 1969 couldn’t have taken this shot. Everything affects...
Ivanhoe's Kipushi Zinc Set for US via Project Vault
We were at the White House in February for the launch of Project Vault, a $12 billion supply‑chain security programme launched by the U.S. and backed by @EximBankUS. At the same time we announced that @IvanhoeMines_ is in discussions with @Gecamines...
Featured in WSJ: Insights on Global Sulphur Market
Thank you Ed Ballard for featuring me in your recent @WSJ article on the global #sulphur market. https://t.co/eYZx1hgh4G
Australian Mining Teeters on Collapse From Diesel Shortages
The Australian mining industry is now on the verge of collapse due to diesel shortages. One of the country’s last two refineries is in flames, and the fuel supply chain that powers every drill, truck, and haul is about to snap. This...
China's Sulphuric Acid Export Ban Boosts Copper Prices
Chinese authorities have announced that China will not be allowed to export sulphuric acid from next month, with the only exception being electronic‑grade sulphuric acid. This means that neither smelter acid nor sulphur‑based acid can be exported will be able...
Acid Prices Surge as Hormuz Sulfur Supply Tightens
Kamoa-Kakula's #copper smelter is currently producing 1,600 tonnes of high-strength sulphuric acid per day. We are currently selling this acid for between $470/t and $500/t to local mining operations in the DRC Copperbelt that critically need the acid to leach...
First Low‑Carbon Copper Anodes Shipped via Lobito Railway
The first batch of 99.7%-pure copper anodes produced by our new smelter at Kamoa-Kakula was recently delivered to the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola. This shipment of anodes was the first to be transported along the Lobito Railway Corridor....
Efficiency Wins Amid Middle East Oil Volatility
Chaos in the Middle East is a wake-up call for oil and gas producers. When volatility rises, efficiency becomes the ultimate resource... The real winners are those who can extract oil and gas from wells more effectively and efficiently. This...
Data Centers Demand Massive Copper; Mining Must Scale Up
Data centers are already here, and they’re here to stay. They’re only going to get bigger, use vastly more power, and require millions of tonnes of copper at a scale we simply do not have the capacity to mine yet… We...
Industrial Capacity, Not Politics, Drives EV and Security Future
@ctindale is spot on. Political will cannot summon industrial reality. EVs & electrification demand a massive new material order: mines, refineries, grids, copper at scale, that takes decades to build, spanning across election cycles. Intention without capacity is illusion. The...
Copper Emerges as Critical Mineral Driving Global Growth
It was a pleasure to talk about ‘The Dawn of the Age of Copper’ at the U.S. Capital Access Forum in Singapore. It’s never easy to follow a keynote from @DonaldJTrumpJr, but copper is always a show-stopper… Many thanks to Hall...
Missile Performance Relies on Critical Scandium Supply
Missiles like the Tomahawk—and the advanced defenses against them—consume vast quantities of critical minerals far beyond just copper. These systems increasingly depend on scandium-aluminum alloys to reduce weight, extend range, and enhance payload performance under extreme conditions. That’s exactly why these are...
Strait Closure Ripple Effects Threaten Sulphur, Copper, Global Markets
Further to what we said about the impact that the closing of the Strait of Hormuz has on the sulphur market… and therefore African copper production… Craig Tindale maps out that this is only one small piece of a giant...
Hormuz Shutdown Spikes Sulphur, Hikes African Copper Leaching Costs
The cost of leaching copper oxide ore in the Central African Copperbelt is about to get even more expensive. In the past few days a number of Middle Eastern Oil refineries have been attacked / closed. In addition, exports through...
Copper Shortage Imminent: Prices Set to Hit $15k
https://t.co/U4SkF1hAbc @UBS boosting its copper price target is just the latest confirmation of what we’ve been warning about for years: the world is flying head-first into a structural copper shortage. A projected $15,000/tonne copper price by 2027… and a half-million-tonne supply deficit...
West's Import Dependence Stems From Financial‑First Economy
Visionary investor @ctindale takes on THE big question: How did America and the West become so dependent on imports for almost everything we use? Tindale says the Western focus on the financial economy over the material economy has led to a...
US Chipmakers Turn to Sunrise Metals Amid Scandium Shortage
U.S. semiconductor manufacturers are feeling the pinch from Chinese restrictions on scandium exports, @Reuters reports, underscoring the importance of @SunriseMetals’ Syerston Scandium Project as an essential supplier to key U.S. industries. “U.S. chipmakers have experienced delays in receiving new scandium export licenses from...
Rare Metals Power Massive Data Centers and National Security
To build a data center the size of Manhattan, as Mr. Zuckerberg intends to, we need some metals that you’ve probably never heard of in quantities than you cannot fathom… These metals are not just 1 or 2 letters on your...
EXIM Boosts Mining, Delivering Critical Minerals Nationwide
It was a pleasure and an honor to catch up with the @JJovanovicUSA President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the @EximBankUS of the United States (EXIM). The support EXIM and this administration shows and extends to...
Analysts Overstate Global Copper Supply by Ignoring Strategic Reserves
I am seeing many market analysts include the accumulated copper stockpiles in the US in their global balance of copper stockpiles and therefore conclude that there are >1 million tonnes of available copper in global stockpiles today. I am not...
U.S. Produces 300 Mining Engineers vs China’s 3,000
Here’s an important story in the Washington Post, with a link below, about how the United States forgot how to mine anything and what it is costing our nation today. If America wants to reduce its dependence on imports from...