Group items tagged

Second quarter production stood at 182,900 tonnes, in line with expectations, with all businesses except Mantoverde in Chile recording higher production. Output at the miner’s Collahuasi project in Chile rose 25% to 37,700 tonnes on higher ore grades and recoveries despite a planned 49-day shutdown of SAG Mill 3 for a stator motor replacement and repowering...

Rio Tinto has raised its copper output production outlook for 2014 to 585,000 tonnes on higher grades and recoveries at Kennecott Utah Copper, USA, and ramp-up at Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi mine.

He said that during Q2, global copper demand was up 4.8% QoQ thanks to demand from emerging economies led by China and a recovery in physical consumption in the US and Europe. During the Q2 of this year, US and European demand for fine copper increased by 22% and 4% respectively when compared to the Q1 of this year. These are very positive developments that support our conviction of higher physical demand from now on. In addition, copper production has not grown at the same rate as demand which will further support prices for the red metal. He added that a clear sign of this is the consistent reduction of the combined copper inventories of the London Metal Exchange, COMEX and Shanghai warehouses. At their latest peak in February this year combined inventories were 815,000t." According to Chilean state copper commission Cochilco's weekly report, global stocks stood at 609,478 tonnes.

In ROW, our strategy of introducing a broader product range into developing markets helped to offset the impact of lower-than-expected volume across a number of countries. The uneven demand experienced during the second quarter is largely episodic, as the fundamental growth drivers remain solid, and GDP rates for many emerging markets continue to outpace those in the developed world. Sequentially, our second quarter results reflect the impact of stronger demand in Venezuela, Brazil and Zambia. In Venezuela, the company benefited from higher spending on electrical infrastructure as the country works to reinforce a weak power grid. In Brazil, our results reflect the aerial transmission shipments and the introduction of specialty products as the country continues to industrialize while at the same time preparing for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. In Zambia, our results reflect the shipment of aerial transmission products as the government invests in expanding its power grid. In addition, we strengthened our market position and product range in Colombia, Peru, Australia, South Africa and Mexico. In Mexico, we recently qualified and supplied our first high-voltage cables. Our market penetration into Mexico continues ahead of expectation, and is supported by a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with high-voltage capabilities ranging up to 225 kilovolts and a comprehensive line of products for electric utilities and contractors. Overall, our results in ROW continue to demonstrate the non-linear nature of our business in the short-term, as construction, mining and utility products are moved between reporting periods, government appropriations are authorized and infrastructure investment plans are advanced.

The impact of lower aluminium and Zinc India performance was offset by higher copper business revenues.

Tiger Resources expects to achieve first copper cathode production at the Kipoi project in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the second quarter of 2014.