Copper outlook .... mning journal , yesterday30 Mar 2022 11:37
Juniors with development
stage copper projects can
expect to see a very
exciting 2022 given the
dearth of red metals
projects in the pipeline
and a market forecast to
enter into a prolonged
supply shortage.
Late 2021 saw a taster of what is to come when two copper
deals closed: Lundin Mining offered C$625 million and a
29% premium for Josemaria Resources in Argentina; and
Capstone Mining announced a C$4.2 billion merger with
Mantos Copper in Chile. In 2021, investors also proved ready
to hit the launch button on junior copper stocks that hit
long intersections of decent grade, as Filo Mining (C$4 to
C$12) and Solaris Resources (C$6 to $16) found. Large
deposits are increasingly rare. The data shows juniors held
just 10 projects with more than 10 billion pounds of
contained copper-equivalent resources.Junior-held projects
can be cut by four if you consider: that Yamana Gold is a
major miner of gold, not copper; Lundin Mining’s acquisition
of Josemaria Resources; that SolGold counts both BHP and
Newcrest as shareholders; and, that Trilogy Metals is in a
joint venture with South32.
Filo Mining will almost certainly reach that 10 billion
pounds-in-the-ground threshold at Filo del Sol and Regulus
Resources has a chance to do so at Antakori if drilling at
Anta Norte is successful. In terms of grade, only 10 have
copper-equivalent grades of 0.5% or above, although this
article purposefully does not include volcanic-massivesulphide
deposits, which tend to be high grade.
Cutting the data this way shows less major influence, with
only SolGold in this group, suggesting that major miners
may prioritise volume over grade so they can bring to bear
the full benefit of economies of scale on what are likely to
be multi-decade production assets. In addition to the
positive macro trends, the past year or two has seen
disruptions in the political and country risk outlook in the
Americas, with projects in four districts - San Juan, Arizona,
British Columbia and Ecuador - appearing increasingly
attractive.
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