Copper: Humanity’s first and most important future metal
Millions of feet of copper wiring will be required for strengthening the world’s power grids, and hundreds of thousands of tonnes more are needed to build wind and solar farms.
LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Glencore said on Tuesday its Katanga mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo produced its first copper cathodes on Monday as it restarts after output was suspended in 2015.
Chief Financial Officer Steven Kalmin told an investors presentation that 150,000 tonnes of copper output was expected next year and 300,000 tonnes in 2019 from its unit Katanga Mining.
Cobalt production was forecast at 11,000 tonnes in 2018 and 34,000 tonnes the following year.
Glencore suspended mining two years ago to help balance the market after copper prices slumped to the lowest levels in more than six years.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad and Pratima Desai, editing by Louise Heavens)
