Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
AP reports one of the four bronze sculptures that included a Jules Dalou, sculptor of the famous Triomphe de la République in Paris (pictured), stolen from the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa since January, were probably melted down and the copper content sold for a paltry $250.
The market for scrap metal has grown dramatically in recent years and China alone imports some 400,000 tonnes of scrap copper per month. So called No. 2 copper scrap, which typically consists of a mixture of wire and tubing, sells for roughly 40 cents below the futures prices, which on Tuesday was $3.40/pound.
News24 quoted Chief Curator of Johannesburg Art Gallery, home to Picassos, van Goghs, Rodins and Pissarro, Antoinette Murdoch: “It is clear that not only are we increasingly the target of thieves but it is also likely that their methods will get more sophisticated.” Police investigations regarding the theft of the Jules Dalou sculpture have been closed due to a lack of evidence.
But the Joburg heist is by no means the most daring according to AP: in one stunning case in 2005, thieves took a two-ton, $5.2 million bronze by famed English sculpture Henry Moore (works of his are also at the Johannesburg Art Gallery) only to melt it down and sell it for scrap as the piece was too well known to sell on the art market.
MINING.com reported last month British Telecom had to talk down the value of its 75 million miles of copper cables criss-crossing the United Kingdom after an analyst at investment bank Investec calculated that the scrap value of the copper is £50 billion ($77 billion) at today’s prices – almost $50 billion more than BT’s market cap.
Click here to read why British Telecom won’t be digging up its copper cables, not yet anyway.
