Copper end use trends

GE Energy has acquired Kelman Limited of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, a provider of advanced monitoring and diagnostics technologies for transformers, enhancing GE's smart grid product portfolio. GE's smart grid offerings are designed to help utilities increase productivity and reliability of both traditional and renewable energy generating assets, while also providing consumers with information to better manage their electricity use and expenses.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8% of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date. The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8% efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto solar cells.

BHP Billiton Limited, Australia's mining giant, recorded a 14.7% increase in profit for the 2008 fiscal year. The company's record US$15.39bn profit was slightly higher than expected, with most analysts predicting US$15.372bn. BHP said, "emerging economies continue to drive demand for commodities, [and] a slowdown in developed countries will have minimal impact." BHP achieved record annual production across seven commodities including copper. Underlying EBIT for the company's base metals unit increased by 16.2% y-o-y to US$7,989m. "Higher average prices for copper, lead, silver, molybdenum and gold increased underlying EBIT, partially offset by lower average zinc prices," said the company, adding that, "in the short term, we expect prices to remain high relative to historic levels, albeit with higher volatility." The final dividend for the year ended 30 June 2008 was US41c per share, bringing total dividend for the year, together with the US29c per share interim dividend in March, up to US70c per share, a 49% increase on FY2007.

Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc (K&S) has announced that the company has entered into definitive agreements to acquire substantially all of the assets of Orthodyne Electronics Corporation, a supplier of wedge bonders, and sell the K&S wire business unit to WC Heraeus GmbH, a precious metals and technology group. Under the terms of the Orthodyne agreement, K&S will fund the acquisition of Orthodyne with approximately 7.1 million shares of K&S common stock, plus $80 million in cash. If the transaction is not consummated by October 31, 2008, the purchase price will be approximately 19.6 million shares of K&S common stock and no cash. The deal includes possible earn-out consideration up to an additional $40 million in cash if certain financial objectives are met by Orthodyne over the next three years. The closing of the transaction, which is expected within approximately 60 days, is subject to certain working capital adjustments and closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. "The acquisition of Orthodyne is in line with our stated strategy and positions K&S to capitalize on our strengths in equipment manufacturing and further cement our position as the leading supplier of interconnect solutions," commented Scott Kulicke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of K&S. "Orthodyne is a fast growing, profitable market leader and provides us with deeper penetration into the discrete side of the semiconductor market, particularly in the attractive power management and hybrid module markets."

The Competition Tribunal on Friday announced that it had approved the sale of vertically integrated assets by South African steel producer Highveld Steel & Vanadium to Swiss firm Duferco Investment Partners. The deal formed part of the European competition regulatory body's conditions of the 2007 Highveld Steel acquisition by Evraz. Duferco's subsidiary, Vanchem Vanadium Products, would acquire Highveld Steel's Vanchem operations, as well as its 50% stake in South Africa Japan Vanadium and 350 ordinary shares in the Mapochs mine, which produced titaniferous magnetitic ore for Highveld Steel, and ore fines for Vanchem.

Sony Corp will invest $369 million (40 billion yen) to power up its lithium-ion battery production operations, adding new facilities and augmenting existing lines. The infusion, which Sony said is the first phase of investment in lithium-ion batteries the company is undertaking as part of efforts to reinforce core areas of its component and semiconductor business over the next three years, will be used to construct new production facilities and to enhance existing lines at Sony's lithium-ion battery production sites in Japan, the Motomiya Technology Center and Tochigi Technology Center of Sony Energy Device Corp. Sony said it is making the investment in response to the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries and that the new production facilities will focus on electrodes, battery cell production lines, and charge and discharge equipment, among other technologies. Sony further reminded its expanding lithium-ion battery production in Singapore and China, and said that in total its monthly production capacity will increase from the current level of 41 million cells per month to 74 million cells in 2010. Sony's $369 million investment will start in its current fiscal year and continue through the second half of its fiscal year 2010. Sony's fiscal Q1 2008 concluded in June. Meanwhile, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co recently committed $923 million (100 billion yen) to build a plant in Osaka, Japan, that is expected to bring its cell production to about 75 million a month from its current 25 million cells per month. Sanyo Electric Co has also reportedly announced plans to invest, promising $1.15 billion (125 billion yen) to develop its rechargeable-batteries business over the next three years. That investment is expected to increase cell output to 90 million per month from Sanyo's current 70 million cells per month. All three of the Japan-based companies last year suffered from loses brought on by their battery operations. Sony-made lithium-

August 12, 2008 What will the electric carInnovation-At-Big-Companies Dec-07 ownership experience be like? NissanNissan Motors has given us a glimpse of what early adopters are letting themselves in for - rather than bundling expensive, consumable battery packs into the price of the car, Nissan plans to sell its 2010 mass-market battery-electric car for around the same price as a standard petrol car, and lease the battery pack to the buyer on a monthly fee. And the battery lease plus electricity charges should still end up cheaper than a petrol bill. Don't worry, it won't look anything like the test vehicle pictured! In an encouraging auto industry trend, more and more major players are committing to launching hybrid, hydrogenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen and battery-electric carsElectric car in the next few years. Nissan is the latest to outline its plans, which will include a production-model lithium-ion plug-in electric car by 2010. There's also a clever high-tech hybrid on the way, and Nissan has also announced a cheaper way of building a high-power density hydrogen fuelGM-Coskata-Alternative-Fuels cell stack. But it's the imminent battery-electric vehicle (BEV) that offers the most immediate chance for car buyers to get away from gas stationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filling_station and look into green motoring. And while no details have yet been officially released about range, charging time, body shape or power, Nissan has clarified that its first mass-market BEV will use a lithium-ion battery pack from partner AESC - an expensive option, but the cost (and eventual replacement cost) will be spread out over a lease plan.

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.

Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto should post record half-year profits as they reap the benefits of an industrial commodities boom, and are likely to use the results to bolster their arguments in a $123 billion (66 billion pound) takeover stand-off. Both are also likely to outline big expansions in key profit sectors such as copper and iron ore, where analysts predict higher prices next year on the back of strong demand for imported raw materials from China's industrial sector. Consenus figures based on forecasts by 20 analysts and provided by BHP point to a 12 percent rise in annual net profit to $15.4 billion, suggesting second-half profit will have risen 30 percent to $9.4 billion from $7.2 billion previously. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates forecast Rio's January-June underlying profit will have risen 40 percent to $5.2 billion. BHP's financial year ends June 30, while Rio follows the calendar year.

Led by an increase in motor vehicles, the output of U.S. factories rose 0.4% in July, the best gain in 10 months, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. Overall, industrial production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, as expected, despite a 1.9% drop in output of utilities. See Economic Forecast. Output of mines increased 0.9% in July. June's industrial production was revised lower to a 0.4% increase. Industrial production has now risen two months in a row, after having fallen the previous four months.

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RUEIL-MALMAISON, FRANCE, August 15, 2008. Schneider Electric has signed a CAD 498 million definitive arrangement agreement with Xantrex Technology Inc for the acquisition of all common shares of Xantrex. Xantrex is said to be a top three global player in the solar and wind inverter market with strong growth potential. It also has a leadership position in the North America. Awaiting approval from Xantrex shareholders, the deal is expected to be closed by October 2008. Schneider Electric says it expects to realise significant synergies in acquiring Xantrex, leveraging the strengths of both companies. Xantrex provides experience in advanced power electronic technology for renewable energy, and dedicated solar and wind channel access. Schneider Electric boasts a wide international footprint with solution centres and leverage with APC in purchasing, technology and operations. Xantrex Chairman Mosaadiq Umedaly comments: "We think it is the best way to develop our business, taking advantage of our leading technology, products, market knowledge, and distribution channels together with Schneider Electric's global sales, service, supply chain, and solutions capabilities."

MOSCOW - In what would be one of the biggest mining deals in Russia this year, the metals tycoon Mikhail D. Prokhorov announced on Tuesday that he would sell 16.6 percent of the Arctic mining giant Norilsk Nickel to his former business partner, Vladimir O. Potanin. The two tycoons agreed last year to divide their holdings in Norilsk, a Russian factory founded by Stalin, whose value soared along with high commodity prices. Norilsk is the world's largest producer of nickel, a key alloy in stainless steel. Under the terms, as laid out in a statement from Mr. Prokhorov's investment company, Onexim, Mr. Potanin agreed to pay $10 billion for the 16.6 percent, in $6.5 billion cash and 35.2 percent of the shares in another mining company, Polyus Gold. The deal valued Norilsk Nickel at $315 a share, well above Monday's closing price of $216, and despite a recent drop in nickel prices, concerns of an economic slowdown and diminished demand for stainless steel.

EDF Energies Nouvelles has signed an agreement with Clipper Windpower for the supply of 67.5 MW of wind turbines. Clipper Turbine Works, a subsidiary of Clipper Windpower, will supply 27 wind turbines, each with a 2.5 MW capacity, to build the first phase of the La Ventosa wind farm in Mexico.

Rocketing metal prices have prompted miners to seek out deposits in nearly all corners of the globe, but Canada's Nautilus Minerals is gunning to be the first to pull gold and copper from the ocean floor.

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Jiangxi Copper announced that it will, "cut the production of semi-finished products by 20-30% in August," following a request from the local authorities that it reduce its power consumption. The company has the capacity to produce 700,000tpy of refined copper and 370,000tpy of semis. The company said that it would "try to maintain normal production of refined copper," and that it would, "cut imports of refined copper as production of semi-finished products fell."

Chinese imports of unwrought and semi-finished copper products for the period January to July were down 12% y-o-y, to 1.51 million tonnes, according to preliminary data from Chinese Customs. The fall comes despite a 7% month-on-month increase in July, which was the result of a decrease in the price differential between Chinese and international copper prices. Scrap imports in the first 7 months of 2008 were up 14.5% y-o-y, to 3.42 million tonnes.

The current growth in the local and international engineering, civils and construction markets is expected to continue despite the current volatility experi- enced in world economic markets, reports the South African Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace). Saace CEO Graham Pirie says that even though the local infrastructure roll-out programme and the infrastructure investments from emerging markets such as China were initiated before the period of global market volatility, infrastructure builds cannot be halted as they are vital to the economic growth of countries. "Government's commitment of R500-bil-lion, in addition to the money invested in the 2010 FIFA World Cup stadiums, to be spent over three years, means that 2010 is a small component of a larger investment that government is encouraging," says Pirie. He comments that the infrastructure roll-out programme is necessary, given the 20-year infrastructure investment backlog that South Africa needs to resolve. Pirie says that events hosted in the country since 1994 have encouraged infrastructure reinvestment. "Prior to 1994, South Africa didn't host sporting or political events that would draw an influx of tourists into the country, so the need for infrastructure reinvestment was minimal. "From 1994, with the 1995 rugby World Cup looming, government got serious about resolving this. Certain sporting events, such as the 1995 rugby World Cup, the 2003 cricket World Cup and the 2010 soccer World Cup, focus the right amount of attention on infras- tructure reinvestment at the right time," says Pirie

Mainstream Renewable Power, a renewable energy company led by Airtricity founder Eddie O'Connor, has announced the successful closing of a €40 million [US $59.6 million] equity fundraising in which Barclays Capital have invested €20 million [US $29.8 million] for a 14.6% stake in the company. The board, management and staff of Mainstream, as well as close associates of the company, have invested an additional €20 million [US $29.8 million]. Together with the initial seed capital of €32 million [US $47.75 million], this brings the total equity raised to date to €72 million [US $107.43 million]. The company is also planning a major fundraiser later this year, with Barclays Capital committing to invest a further substantial amount at that stage. As part of the deal, Mark Brown, head of Barclays Capital Commodities Principal Investment team has been appointed to the board of Mainstream. The money will be used to fund the company's international expansion plans across Europe, North and South America and Australia and will be used to secure the supply of turbines to be delivered in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In June, Mainstream announced its plans to build an initial pipeline of 240 megawatts of projects in Chile with its partner Andes Energy.