Engineering & Mining Journal

JUL 2013

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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C O P P E R O U T LO O K major copper consumer due to a similar growing need for power generation to support urbanization, investment in overall infrastructure has only been about half of that for China. "We expect copper demand to continue to be steady," Harris said. "The longterm demand outlook remains attractive." Influenced by years of steady investment, metal fundamentals have softened somewhat and copper miners are now focusing on adding value rather than tons. "This has been very visible on the copper market, and from the supply side. We strongly believe the copper market will be better supplied in 2014 and 2015," said Michael Widmer, head metals strategist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "We also believe that there will be a risk of moving into surplus in those years." Chinese construction in terms of housing growth is expected to remain solid in 2013. "It is important to emphasize that this growth means 'completions,' not 'new starts' this year," said Max Layton, executive director, Goldman Sachs International. "As far as housing in the United States, one of the major ex-China constructionrelated copper consumers, a structural recovery in residential construction is under way and expected to continue." Long term, Layton believes the next two to www.e-mj.com Source: Codelco. Projection of world copper mine production by country. Note: Projections do not include potential projects or disruptions allowances. three years should set the market up for the next bull market beyond 2015. Chilean Minister of Finance Felipe Larrain referred to the situation with the developed economies as a sort of "quantitative relaxing." "This policy coming from the developed countries is affecting the developing countries—including JULY 2013 • E&MJ; 69

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