Swapping aluminum for copper will maintain China’s resources, group says
China depends on overseas imports for 60% of its aluminum resources as opposed to 70% of its copper resources.
Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, posted a 6.6% year-over-year slip in its July output after two of the country’s largest mines underperformed, the government said on Monday.
Copper production in July totaled 195,234 tonnes to hit 1,291,888 tonnes year-to-date, just 0.1% under the year-ago period, the Ministry of Energy and Mines said in a report.
The Antamina mine, controlled by Glencore, BHP, Teck and Mitsubishi, reported a 9.1% drop in production in July, while Southern Copper — owned by Grupo Mexico — dropped 14.5%.
Copper production had recovered in June after operations at the Las Bambas mine, owned by China’s MMG Ltd, resumed following a truce with indigenous communities who had protested at the site for almost two months.
The Las Bambas truce ended the next month without reaching an agreement, and renewed protests could risk supplies of the metal.
Mining exports in Peru total around 60% of the South American country’s overall shipments.
(By Marco Aquino and Kylie Madry; Editing by Uttaresh.V)
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