Copper end use trends

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, September 2, 2008. The Danish Ministry for Climate and Energy says a new 400 MW offshore wind farm will be built by 2012. The wind farm comes in addition to the 200 MW Rødsand II (online from 2011) and 200 MW Horns Rev II (online from 2009), and will be built between Anholt and Djursland in the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden. The location was chosen due to the possibility of connecting the wind farm more or less directly to the existing grid, which means the windmills can be put up quicker. Depending on the capacity of the windmills that will be chosen, the wind farm will have 100-175 wind mills.

Rio Tinto has signed two exploration joint venture agreements with CODELCO's 100% owned subsidiary, CCM Los Andes, in Chile. These agreements follow the first exploration joint venture agreement signed between Rio Tinto and CODELCO in January 2008. CODELCO is the world's largest copper producer.

"This is a seasonally slow time of year and the Olympics have had a big effect," said Michael Widmer, analyst at Lehman Brothers. "Demand for copper should pick up as we go into September, we may see some restocking in China."

On August 19th, Chinalco began work on its 300 ktpa copper semis facility in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The company's three existing processing sites, Chinalco Luoyang Copper, Chinalco Shanghai Copper and Chinalco Daye Copper Sheet & Strip, account for around 28% of China's total copper sheet and strip capacity, with a combined total of 130 ktpa, and 220 ktpa of expansions under construction. The new facility, with total investment of RMB2 billion, will comprise a 100 ktpa sheet and strip facility and a 200 ktpa wire and rod facility.

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Chinese aluminium maker Chinalco may increase its minority stake in Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto if market conditions are right, but has no timetable for such a move, its president said on Monday.

CHENNAI: Sterlite Industries India Limited (SIIL), a leading non-ferrous metals and mining company and the flagship of Vedanta Resource of London, is planning to increase the installed capacity of its copper smelter at Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) to 4.20 lakh tonnes by implementing a de-bottlenecking programme.

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

Kazakhmys reported H1 profits of US$610.5m, a 23.8% decrease on the same period in 2007, resulting from higher labour costs and a 9% fall in cathode output, to 174,300t, following harsh weather conditions in Q1. The group stated that, "copper output in 2008 will at least equal production from last year," implying a strong second half. The inclusion of profits from Kazakhmys' 25% stake in ENRC should also bolster H2 results. Kazakhmys intends to pursue synergy talks with ENRC, who operate predominantly in ferrochrome, iron and aluminium, despite a frosty reception so far, as ENRC reiterated that it would not offer Kazakhmys a seat on the board as they were, "both competing for deposits in the same region."

Manufacturer joins pack of thin-film companies securing big bucks to take innovations to production stage. San Jose, Calif.-based Nanosolar has raised $300 million in equity to expand production of its thin-film panels for solar power plants, Nanosolar CEO Martin Röscheisen told the Cleantech Group today. The financing-a combination of supply deals, partnerships and funding-pushes Nanosolar to nearly half a billion dollars of capital, securing the six-year-old company's position as one of the leading thin-film producers.

The Ridgeway underground mine cave is located in the mineral-rich Cadia Valley province in central New South Wales. A gold and copper mine, it is 100% owned by Australia's Newcrest Mining, and is one of three operations owned by the company in the province. The others are Cadia East and Cadia Hill, the largest of the three. "The Ridgeway underground mine cave is located in the mineral-rich Cadia Valley province."Ridgeway is in the process of transitioning from the sub-level cave to a block cave beneath the existing mine. In 2007 the Newcrest board approved development of the Ridgeway Deeps block cave. It will be the first natural caving operation to be developed by Newcrest and will be the deepest block cave in Australia. The company says it is spending A$525m to develop it. The mineral resource at Ridgeway Deeps was re-estimated following a geological reinterpretation which yielded an increased resource of 20 million tons containing 0.5 million ounces of gold, and 0.05 million tons of copper. GEOLOGY AND RESERVES

Czech utility, CEZ Group (CEZ.BE), is investing 1.1 billion euros in a Romanian wind farm with a projected capacity of 600 megawatts (MW), which--when completed--will be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe. CEZ bought the development rights for two projects from Continental Wind Partners LLC (CWP), which will manage the construction, set to begin next month. The project will combine adjacent Fantanele and Cogealac wind farms. Together, the two projects will be about twice the size of the next largest fully permitted onshore wind farm in Europe, and triple the size of the largest operational wind farm in Europe. The project, which is located about 17 kilometers from the Black Sea, will be completed in two stages. The first stage of 347.5 MW is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. It will comprise 139 GE wind turbines.

China will begin subsidizing the production of wind power turbines, according to an announcement made last Friday. The subsidy will only be available to Chinese majority-owned turbine manufacturers, who will be eligible to receive $88 per kilowatt for the first 50 units capable of generating at least 1.5 megawatts of power. In addition, the subsidy can only be used for research and development. This is the first Chinese subsidy specifically focusing on the wind power industry and it is meant to make Chinese companies more competitive with turbine makers like GE (NYSE: GE) in the U.S., Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.CO) in the Netherlands and India's Suzlon (SUZL.BO).

Yunnan Copper blamed lower copper prices, high energy and raw materials costs and a 45-day machine overhaul for a 29.5% year-on-year drop in profit, to RMB546 million (US$80 million), in the first six months of the year. "The sluggish economy led to a slowdown in copper consumption, causing a corresponding drop in cathode prices. Meanwhile costs of energy and raw materials increased in the first half year, which also curbed our profits," said the company. These results come in stark contrast to the 35% increase in H1 profit seen at Jiangxi Copper, another big Chinese smelter. Market sources put the difference down to the varying cost of copper production between smelters, as Yunnan's profits fell despite a 21.7% y-o-y increase in cathode output to 875,000t.