PetroChina to start metals trading, eyeing energy transition
In addition to lithium and copper, the new PetroChina unit may also look to trade nickel.
Uzbekistan’s Almalyk Mining and Metals Combine (AGMK) plans a $15 billion expansion programme to increase copper cathode output to 400,000 metric tons a year by 2030 from 148,000 tons currently, it said on Thursday.
Prices for copper, used in the power and construction industries, hit a record high of $11,104.5 on May 20 on speculative buying and concerns that rising demand from the energy transition would tighten the market in future.
AGMK’s plans includes boosting both mining and ore processing facilities and the construction of a new smelter, the state-controlled company said. The plan is part of an expansion program approved by the government in 2020.
The copper, zinc, silver and gold producer said it would borrow most of the required funds from local and foreign banks and also receive $1 billion from a state development fund.
AGMK signed a deal last year with Germany’s KfW IPEX-Bank to arrange $2.55 billion in loans.
The global copper market faces a surplus of 162,000 tons this year with refined copper production of 27.3 million tons, according to the International Copper Study Group.
(By Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov, Olzhas Auyezov and Polina Devitt; Editing by Jason Neely and Ros Russell)
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