With recent spike in volume somebody is clearly accumulating serious position in Tenke mining, Merger between FCX and PD will be voted on 14th of March, after that we can expect fast developments on financing front and resource estimation with drill results accounted from PD 2006 exploration programme. Important that Argentina's projects Value will be realised before possible Takeover TNK.to. I hope it will be in the way of spin off with dividend in kind transaction. Paul Conibear has told before that FCX even more aggressive with Tenke Fungurume story:
"Supply constraints, China demand underpin prices: FCX
Mine supply constraints, along with continuing strong Chinese demand, look set to underpin copper prices in coming years, Richard Adkerson, president and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, said during the last week of February.
"We feel good about demand but particularly good about supply," Adkerson told the BMO Capital Markets 2007 Global Resources Conference in Tampa, Florida, via webcast. "We know how tough it is to find new sources of copper and develop them in today's world .... In the past few years the industry has fallen short of its supply targets. We're just not seeing new Grasbergs and Escondidas," he said.
One potential new project is Tenke Fungurume in the Democratic Republic of Congo, partly owned by Phelps Dodge. Freeport is in the process of acquiring fellow US copper producer Phelps Dodge, and expects to complete the transaction next month.
Part-owner Tenke Mining announced February 26 that the feasibility study had been completed for the first phase of production at Tenke Fungurume, targeting initial output of around 115,000 mt/year of Grade A-quality copper cathode and 8,000 mt/year of cobalt. Full production of copper is scheduled to occur as early as the fourth quarter of 2008, with full cobalt production as early as the end of the first quarter of 2009.
"To have Tenke Fungurume in the same company with Grasberg [Freeport's copper-gold mine in Indonesia] is an exciting part of what we have before us," Adkerson said.
An executive with minority shareholder Tenke Mining said he didn't expect the newly elected government in the DRC to implement any new tax measures that would delay production. "The Congo needs successful mining projects like this to go ahead [rather] than change the tax code," president and CEO Paul Conibear said during the same conference. "Can they change things? Will they change things? I don't think so," he said. "I think President [Joseph] Kabila knows he has to help instill investor confidence for him to achieve his goals of stabilizing the country."
Meanwhile, lagging mine output is making life "tough" for smelters, Adkerson suggested: "There's more than adequate smelter capacity and a shortage of concentrate."
On the demand side, China will be "an important source of demand to the industry for years to come," he said. While Adkerson acknowledged that soaring copper prices had seen some substitution away from the metal in certain sectors, noticeably plumbing - "substitution is a fact of life and a function of high prices" - he argued that copper's particular physical properties continued to make it the preferred choice in most of its applications.
The combined Freeport-Phelps Dodge - which will be the world's second-largest copper producer behind Chilean state miner Codelco - will be well positioned to weather any downturn in copper prices, Adkerson said.
"If prices were to get to a low level, we have a set of assets that can respond to it," he said, adding: "We would be in a position to flex production more aggressively than Phelps Dodge was able to in the past." Freeport's Grasberg copper-gold mine "can generate profits at any level of prices," Adkerson said.
Assuming 2007 average copper prices of $2.50/lb and average gold prices of $600/oz, along with achievement of current 2007 sales estimates, the company's PT Freeport Indonesia unit has estimated its annual 2007 unit net cash costs, including gold and silver credits, will be about 63cts/lb.
The London Metal Exchange cash copper settlement price March 2 was $6,056/mt ($2.75/lb), while spot gold reached an afternoon fix in London at $651.90/oz.
Consolidation moves in recent years have left the copper industry as a whole in a better position to respond to a price downturn than in the past when a fragmented sector saw smaller companies needing to continue producing regardless of prevailing prices, Adkerson suggested.
Created: March 6, 2007"
Mine supply constraints, along with continuing strong Chinese demand, look set to underpin copper prices in coming years, Richard Adkerson, president and CEO of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, said during the last week of February.
"We feel good about demand but particularly good about supply," Adkerson told the BMO Capital Markets 2007 Global Resources Conference in Tampa, Florida, via webcast. "We know how tough it is to find new sources of copper and develop them in today's world .... In the past few years the industry has fallen short of its supply targets. We're just not seeing new Grasbergs and Escondidas," he said.
One potential new project is Tenke Fungurume in the Democratic Republic of Congo, partly owned by Phelps Dodge. Freeport is in the process of acquiring fellow US copper producer Phelps Dodge, and expects to complete the transaction next month.
Part-owner Tenke Mining announced February 26 that the feasibility study had been completed for the first phase of production at Tenke Fungurume, targeting initial output of around 115,000 mt/year of Grade A-quality copper cathode and 8,000 mt/year of cobalt. Full production of copper is scheduled to occur as early as the fourth quarter of 2008, with full cobalt production as early as the end of the first quarter of 2009.
"To have Tenke Fungurume in the same company with Grasberg [Freeport's copper-gold mine in Indonesia] is an exciting part of what we have before us," Adkerson said.
An executive with minority shareholder Tenke Mining said he didn't expect the newly elected government in the DRC to implement any new tax measures that would delay production. "The Congo needs successful mining projects like this to go ahead [rather] than change the tax code," president and CEO Paul Conibear said during the same conference. "Can they change things? Will they change things? I don't think so," he said. "I think President [Joseph] Kabila knows he has to help instill investor confidence for him to achieve his goals of stabilizing the country."
Meanwhile, lagging mine output is making life "tough" for smelters, Adkerson suggested: "There's more than adequate smelter capacity and a shortage of concentrate."
On the demand side, China will be "an important source of demand to the industry for years to come," he said. While Adkerson acknowledged that soaring copper prices had seen some substitution away from the metal in certain sectors, noticeably plumbing - "substitution is a fact of life and a function of high prices" - he argued that copper's particular physical properties continued to make it the preferred choice in most of its applications.
The combined Freeport-Phelps Dodge - which will be the world's second-largest copper producer behind Chilean state miner Codelco - will be well positioned to weather any downturn in copper prices, Adkerson said.
"If prices were to get to a low level, we have a set of assets that can respond to it," he said, adding: "We would be in a position to flex production more aggressively than Phelps Dodge was able to in the past." Freeport's Grasberg copper-gold mine "can generate profits at any level of prices," Adkerson said.
Assuming 2007 average copper prices of $2.50/lb and average gold prices of $600/oz, along with achievement of current 2007 sales estimates, the company's PT Freeport Indonesia unit has estimated its annual 2007 unit net cash costs, including gold and silver credits, will be about 63cts/lb.
The London Metal Exchange cash copper settlement price March 2 was $6,056/mt ($2.75/lb), while spot gold reached an afternoon fix in London at $651.90/oz.
Consolidation moves in recent years have left the copper industry as a whole in a better position to respond to a price downturn than in the past when a fragmented sector saw smaller companies needing to continue producing regardless of prevailing prices, Adkerson suggested.
Created: March 6, 2007"
2 comments:
It turns out that your information sources are in one person offices in temporary office locations.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's word carries much much more weight.
.
Do we believe one person or a professional, audited, regulated organization?
.
Quit wasting our time.
I can help you: apart from Fannie's and Freddie's execs, Bear Sterns guys apparently worth listening to on housing market: http://sufiy.blogspot.com/2007/03/ooops-my-non-science-fiction-happen-to.html
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