Portugal’s mining strategy may favour copper over lithium
Portugal already has the largest copper mine in the European Union, operated by Lundin Mining.
Shares in mining companies fell heavily in the City after the biggest fall in China’s exports in almost seven years rekindled concerns about the impact of a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy on the rest of the world.
Official figures released in Beijing showed that exports in February were down 25.4% on a year earlier, the worst performance since May 2009, the trough of the global recession. News that imports were down by 13.8% – the 16th successive decline – resulted in a reversal of the recent rally in the price of oil and industrial metals.
