RIO TINTO SAYS LONG-TERM COPPER OUTLOOK POSITIVE
The positive long-term outlook for copper remains intact, Rio Tinto copper division chief Andrew Harding said on Friday.
Debate over whether the decade-long bull run in commodities has ended has ramped up in recent days as China heads for the slowest pace of annual growth in more than a decade, driving down the prices of copper, iron ore and other raw materials.
Rio’s larger rival, BHP Billiton , earlier this week shelved tens of billions of dollars in expansion plans due to soaring development costs, a high Australian dollar and an uncertain outlook, prompting Australia’s resources minister to say the boom was over.
“The long term copper outlook remains positive,” Harding told reporters at Rio’s 55,000 tonnes per year Northparkes copper mine in western New South Wales.
Copper prices have been on a downtrend for most of this year since reaching a peak of $8,760 per tonne in February but have rallied in recent days. On Friday, the benchmark three-month contract at the London Metal Exchange stood at $7,684.5/tonne.
Rio is forecasting production of 580,000 tonnes of mined copper and 300,000 tonnes of refined copper in 2012.
Work at Rio’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia was 94 percent complete and first commercial production was expected by 2013, Harding added.
Debate over whether the decade-long bull run in commodities has ended has ramped up in recent days as China heads for the slowest pace of annual growth in more than a decade, driving down the prices of copper, iron ore and other raw materials.
Rio’s larger rival, BHP Billiton , earlier this week shelved tens of billions of dollars in expansion plans due to soaring development costs, a high Australian dollar and an uncertain outlook, prompting Australia’s resources minister to say the boom was over.
“The long term copper outlook remains positive,” Harding told reporters at Rio’s 55,000 tonnes per year Northparkes copper mine in western New South Wales.
Copper prices have been on a downtrend for most of this year since reaching a peak of $8,760 per tonne in February but have rallied in recent days. On Friday, the benchmark three-month contract at the London Metal Exchange stood at $7,684.5/tonne.
Rio is forecasting production of 580,000 tonnes of mined copper and 300,000 tonnes of refined copper in 2012.
Work at Rio’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia was 94 percent complete and first commercial production was expected by 2013, Harding added.
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