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.
Chile’s Codelco, the world’s second-largest copper miner, has lost more ground among the metal’s top tier, after reporting that output for 2019 had fallen by 5.3% to 1.588 million tonnes.
BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, churned out 1.749 million tonnes of copper last year and expects to produce between 1.705 million and 1.820 million tonnes in 2020 on a 100% basis (on an attributable basis Codelco is still top).
Codelco, which hands all its revenue over to the state, attributed the drop in production to unusually bad weather in the first half of the year, strikes at its Chuquicamata mine and operational issues.
Profit for the year fell 17% compared to 2018 to $1.34 billion, while direct cash costs increased 1.8%.
Codelco blamed unusually bad weather in the first half of the year, strikes at its Chuquicamata mine and operational issues for the production drop
Codelco said the poor financial results were a combination lower gross margins, the downward tendency of copper prices, a reduction in physical sales of the metal and molybdenum and weak results obtained from associated investments.
Colin Hamilton, managing director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, had anticipated earlier this week that the copper company would soon have to sell non-core assets.
“Any thoughts of shutting unprofitable operations, however, are off the agenda for now given the need to ensure employment,” Hamilton said in a note to investors.
Hamilton also noted that it was looking increasingly unlikely that Codelco would be the world’s largest copper miner from this year forward, as depletion and restrictions prove to be headwinds that are too strong.
The escalating number of Chileans infected with the novel coronavirus forced the company on Wednesday to suspend some key projects, including work being carried out to finish transforming Chuquicamata into an underground mine, and early-stage projects at Rajo Inca and Traspaso Andina.
The halted projects are part of a 10-year, $40 billion ongoing plan to upgrade its aging mines and keep up production rates. The scheme, however, could be further jeopardized by the effects of the measures taken to deal with the global pandemic crisis.
“Although the country’s government has taken proactive measures to contain the economic and health impacts of the covid-19, the ripple effects of a copper supply shock remain to be seen,” Mariano Pablo Machado, senior Americas analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said this week.
Codelco operates seven mines and four smelters, all in Chile. Its assets account for 10% of the world’s known proven and probable reserves and about 7% of the global annual copper output.
2 Comments
Geotehnolog
Hello, I was just wondering why are you keep insisting here and in your another article posted on February 10, 2020, that BHP became the biggest copper producer while it is not. In fact, when you wrote that “For the first six months of BHP’s financial year, output was up 7% year on year to 885,000 tonnes, with Escondida contributing more than 600,000 tonnes” you pointed that 100% of Escondida copper output does belong to BHP, while it is not correct. You should have calculated on the basis of BHP interest in Escondida production which is 57.5%. I am afraid that BHP is not the biggest copper producer yet, and not even second biggest. Please, make corrections to your stories.
Frik Els
Thanks for the comment Geotehnolog. You’re right saying “largest copper miner” or “top producer” is a vague term. There are many ways to rank companies – in this instance we called BHP the top copper miner on a 100% basis because it’s the operator, even though it doesn’t own all the Escondida tonnes. The Asian trading houses own lots of tonnage through stakes in mines around the world but they are not mining co’s (and we exclude them from most rankings). Korea Zinc the no 1 zinc producer but we would probably not include it in a MINING.COM ranking of zinc producers. We’ve similarly excluded steel companies like MMK and Arcelor from our rankings even though they operate iron ore mines. Gold streaming companies are in the top ten most valuable gold companies and listed under mining on stock exchanges but never “produce” an ounce (we do include them in our Top 10s). Click on Top 50 Companies in the navbar for notes and criteria about rankings on MINING.COM. I’ve amended this post to reflect that BHP is no 1 only on a 100% basis. And check back soon for Copper etc rankings based on different criteria. And thanks again for keeping us on our toes. – Frik