Copper price down despite supply scarcity concerns

Mining has become the sixth most important sector when it comes to exports.

Aurelia Metals is in talks with the Swiss miner and commodity trader about a possible acquisition of CSA underground mine, which produced 48,000 tonnes of copper concentrate last year.

Production dropped 6% in the quarter.

The Phoenix-based company posted first quarter net income of $31m, compared with net income of $692m in the year-ago quarter.

Ernst & Young’s Canadian Mining Eye index — which tracks the performance of 100 Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange mid-tier and junior mining companies — rose 5% fin the January-March period.

This second major cash injection brings the Chinese miner's total investment in Ivanhoe to $1 billion, which gives the Canadian company the equity cushion required to build its massive Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

Codelco is undergoing a 10-year, $40 billion overhaul of its aging mines, including efficiency upgrades to boost productivity and lower costs.

After almost three years of rating the mining giant’s stock as overweight, JPMorgan downgraded it to neutral on Wednesday.

The document divides operations into six levels, from zero (entirely manual) to five (fully autonomous), and assists in the preparation of a business case for autonomous mining, depending on level and needs.