Copper on the rise

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The old adage says that as one door closes another opens and according to miningoilandgasjobs.com industry spokesperson Laura Gunnis this has certainly been her experience over her many years of following industry trends.

She said recently that the short and medium-term outlook for copper appears to be strengthening and Rio Tinto appear to be in the vanguard as they are performing well on a project with the potential to boost this year’s copper production — the Bingham Canyon copper mine in the Rocky Mountains of Utah.

In a media comment, Rio’s copper chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques said he was feeling much better about the market environment for his business “I am becoming more and more positive about 2015,” Mr Jacques said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the market is balanced this year, because lots of players are delaying their projects and there have been lots of disruptions, such as rain in Chile a few weeks ago, which have had a major impact.”

Mr Jacques said “The remediation (at Bingham Canyon) is going very well and the team is doing a very good job, so there is positive news coming out of Kennecott” If the work continues apace, it could mean more production from the mine. Whether this boosts Rio’s 2015 copper guidance of 500,000 to 535,000 tonnes will not be clear at least until the release of the second-quarter production report in July.

Copper prices have seen a 20 per cent rebound since January lows and are now trading just below $US3 a pound. This is still well below prices for most of the past five years.

Mr Jacques said supply factors boosting the market outlook would have a flow-on effect, along with some positive demand signs, which meant an oversupply in the market would clear a year or two earlier than expected.

“There could be some oversupply next year. However, my view is we could see the light at the end of the tunnel in 18 to 24 months in the form of an inflection point, which would be good news for the copper industry,” Mr Jacques said.