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Russia Copper Corp. (RCC), a Russia-based integrated producer of copper cathode and wirerod, said that there will be a steep rise in exports of copper cathode from 2015. The company expects Russia to cancel its 10% (variable on copper price) export duty on copper cathodes from 2015 as a prerequisite for its accession to the World Trade Organisation. RCC added that the cost incurred in producing wirerod is around $130/t and the average cost to send it abroad in Q1 2012 was $250/t, whereas the estimated cost of sending cathode abroad was $850/t in that period.

An official from SDI La Farga LLC's said on 11th December that the company is producing limited amounts of wirerod at its new US $39M plant in New Haven, Indiana. The new facility, a joint venture between Spain's La Farga Group and Steel Dynamics Inc, produces wirerod from number 2 scrap copper rather than cathode. The company official said "we've produced quality rod and are in the process of getting approval of customers and we have done so with several customers." He added that plant officials are "waiting for more customer orders to start producing more".

Anhui Jincheng, the Shanghai-listed producer of copper PSSF, said on 26th March that it produced 93,872t of copper PSSF in 2012, a 13% y-o-y increase from 2011. Despite the increase in output, the company made a net loss of RMB57M in 2012 from a profit of RMB24M in 2011 (loss of US$9M from a profit of US$3.8M). Remarking on the results the company said that "uncertainties in the global economy, the euro debt crisis, plus the weak Chinese economy, has negatively impacted demand by the downstream processing sector last year."

Talking at the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference, CRU Principal Consultant Vivienne Lloyd said that up to 2Mt of copper demand could be lost over the next five years due to substitution and consolidation amongst Chinese semis producers. Lloyd said that the areas under the greatest threat from substitution are the automotive wiring harness sector and the HVAC sector. However, CRU believes that the aluminium/copper price ratio is likely to have peaked in 2012 at around 4:1, and will fall back gradually to 2017 reaching 3:1, which should relieve some of the substitution pressures.

China's largest copper deposit Yulong copper mine in the Tibet Autonomous Region is to start copper cathode production end-September with its output expected to reach 1,800-2,000 mt in 2008, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. The first phase of the Yulong project is expected to be fully completed in 2010, which will reach a copper cathode output capacity of 30,000 mt/year. The mine in the long run aims to reach a copper output of 100,000 mt/year. Preliminary copper reserves estimated at Yulong copper mine is at above 6.5 million mt and its copper reserves in the long run could reach 10 million mt in the long run. The mine is the country's largest resources deposit and the second largest in Asia, the report said.

The public sector Hindustan Copper has cut basic selling prices of cathode full and cathode cut by over one per cent or Rs 400 per tonne effective today to bring them in line with global prices

Figures released by the General Administration of Customs indicate that total imports of copper blister, cathode, alloys and semis amounted to 280kt, down by 15% y-o-y but up sequentially by 9.9% in June 2011. Over the period from January to June 2011, copper imports contracted to 1.7Mt, down by 24% y-o-y. The rise in copper imports over the previous month is thought to be attributed to a narrowing price gap between the SHFE and LME cathode spot markets as well as the use of copper imports as collateral for credit.

It was reported that China's Amer International expects to complete construction of its new 250,000t/y copper rod production line, located in its Chaohu City facility in Anhui Province, by year-end. The expansion project will bring Amer's production capacity to 500,000t/y and its total copper rod production is anticipated to reach 200,000t in 2011. A spokesperson for the company said that it will manufacture rod for both domestic and foreign export markets. In addition, Amer also intends to source copper cathode for rod-processing from within China and also overseas. Total investment for the project amounted to RMB2.5B.

Southwire, the US-based aluminium and copper cablemaker, has said that while the use of copper in most electrical applications is unlikely to change, some manufacturers are likely to move toward the use of aluminium wire. The auto industry is increasingly using aluminium wire for traditional copper applications. This is occurring most predominantly outside of the US, however domestic autos companies have also been using aluminium wire for battery cable and aluminium wire harnesses for lights. Southwire stated that for most electrical applications copper usage will remain dominant because of its overall reliability.

Guangzhou Jiangtong Copper products, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper, announced that it began trial production at its new 400,000t/y copper wirerod plant this week. The company expects to supply nearby consumers in southern China as well as those in foreign markets in Southeast Asia. Capital investment expenditure totalled RMB2.0B.

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) has recommended that the controversial Carmacks copper mine project can go ahead, providing that the Western Copper Corporation (TSX: WRN) complies with 148 conditions to mitigate potential adverse impacts. The tiny community of Carmacks with a year-round population of 500 is still considered an important service center for mining and for transportation, a century after it was a popular rest stop for the Yukon gold rush. However, members of the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation want Western Copper to negotiate a better environmental engineering solution as part of an Impacts Benefits Agreement with the community. Located 38km northwest of the Village of Carmacks and 192 km north of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, the Carmacks copper project is planned to be an open-pit operation that will yield about 14,000 tonnes of copper cathode annually. Western Copper has targeted production to begin during the fourth quarter of 2010. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. The YESAB Executive Committee said it was satisfied that: Western Copper adequately consulted with the First Nations in whose territory, and the residents of any community in which the project will be located or might have significant or socio-economic effects; The project proponent provided sufficient information in the project proposal to allow for the assessment of potentially significant effects; Significant adverse environmental or socio-economic project and cumulative effects identified within the scope of the scre

South Korea-based LS-Nikko Copper, the world's second-largest copper smelter, said on Thursday it would cut copper cathode output by about 10 percent due to weak demand in its first such move in more than four years.

June 2008\nNA Copper Mail

Norddeutsche Affinerie AG (NA) said it is expecting at least EUR40 million of synergies each year from the takeover of Cumerio which was completed in March this year. The company said that it will benefit from the transfer of best practice between the two companies while cost savings mainly come from logistics and process optimization. NA also plans to increase production at its Cumerio smelters. The company expects further acquisition opportunities in Europe and in other parts of the world, including Asia. NA plans to expand its operations in southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region to capitalize on its strong economic growth before looking for growth opportunities outside Europe. In Bulgaria, the company currently expands copper cathode production capacity of its Pirdop smelter to 180,000 tonnes per year.

Norddeutsche Affinerie is to invest €62.5M to increase by 60% its copper scrap recycling capacity in Lünen, Germany by 2011. The investment will double the firm's capacity to process complex copper-bearing scrap such as shreddings, powders and electrical scrap to 140,000t/y, bringing total scrap recycling capacity up to 350,000t/y from 220,000t/y currently. The scrap will be processed into copper cathode. The investment will see the installation of a second smelting furnace, and a waste gas purification plant in Lünen. Norddeutsche's current secondary smelter in Lünen uses a range of scrap, whilst its Hamburg plant uses copper concentrate and a small percentage of high-grade scrap. Electronic scrap availability has increased in Europe as end-of-life regulations have been introduced for its disposal.

According to Antaike, China's consumption of copper cathode is anticipated to increase stably year-on-year beginning with 7.34Mt in 2011, 7.85Mt in 2012, 8.30Mt in 2013, 8.7Mt in 2014 and 9.1Mt in 2015 before reaching 10Mt in 2020. The Chinese research group principally attribute this rise to increasing demand from the power sector.

SMS Meer of Germany announced on 8th November that it had received an order from Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group for a CONTIROD casting and rolling plant for the production of copper wirerod. The new wirerod line can produces 225,000t/y of copper wirerod from cathode. The news follows an announcement from Tongling Nonferrous Metals that it is planning to expand production in its smelting division to become China's largest copper smelter. The company, which produces copper cathode as well as end products such as semis and rod, said it is planning to raise smelting output by 400,000t/y. This is equivalent to 50% of production and would take total output to 1.2Mt/y, overtaking China's current largest smelter Jiangxi Copper.

According to data from Chinese Customs, Chinese final imports of refined copper totalled 238,828t in December, a fall of 4 7% m-o-m from November, and the second lowest reading of 2012. Despite this, full-year imports of refined copper in 2012 surged to their highest year on record, at 3.4Mt, as a result of the large volumes of copper being imported on long term contracts in 2012. While the pickup in imports of refined copper was strong in 2012, demand from downstream users did not match the pickup in imports. According to a report from Reuters, this has resulted in large amounts of cathode sitting in bonded warehouses rather than being absorbed by the domestic market.

The German copper cathode and semis fabricator, Aurubis, has reported its concerns over the Federal Government's decision to phase out nuclear power. Aurubis said that the new legislative package, which involves the decommissioning of seven base load power plants, does not ensure that electricity will remain secure and affordable for the company. As such, it believes that power supply now represents a significant downside risk to its operations. In the event of a momentary power failure, the company would suffer a half-day cathode production loss. A sustained power shortage or blackout could cause substantial damage to plant equipment as liquid melts solidify. Aurubis said that steps were required to be taken to expand the power grid and increase power plant capacities. The company currently uses 1Bn KWh/y, approximately the same amount as 600,000 inhabitants.