Copper Rose as Las Bambas Mine Faces Shut Down

On Friday, copper rose as the Chinese-owned Las Bambas mine stopped operations in Peru amid the arrest of former President Pedro Castillo.

Copper contracts for March delivery increased by 0.79% to $4.12 per pound on February 03. Las Bambas’ total copper production dropped by 10.00% year-on-year on 2022.

Around 30.00% of its copper outputs were threatened by the violent demonstrations in South America caused by the political crisis.

Since the president’s arrest, Las Bambas has been operating at a decreased rate. However, its suspension was set as Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) confirmed the start of its maintenance after Monday’s warning.

Moreover, the copper mine dealt with a critical supply shortage caused by inbound and outbound transport disruptions. Las Bambas is responsible for 2.00% of the metal worldwide. Its shares fell by 7.50%.

In 2022, its production was 254,800 metric tons. Currently, the mine has about 85,000.00 tons of red metal in inventory at their site.

Also, MMG forecasted the mine’s production in 2023 to be between 265,000 and 305,000 metric tons.

In addition, Glencore, another significant player in the mining industry, temporarily stopped its production in Peru. Operations stopped after the premises was attacked by protesters.

According to analysts, protests, while hitting transportation, weigh on Peru’s copper mine productions.

Maike Metal International Group Sued

The Xi’an-headquartered Maike Metal International Group in China was sued due to undelivered contracts. It added to the liquidity crisis at the private company Xiamen Xindeco.

According to Xindeco, Maike failed to do its responsibility for parts of the electrolytic copper imports contracts. As a result, it was charged $148.00 million.

Maike international metal group had a shortfall of 7.00 billion to 10.00 billion yuan in funding.

Furthermore, the pandemic played a massive factor in destroying the company. For instance, due to the COVID-19 lockdowns in China, imported copper shipments were stuck at Shanghai’s port in March.

It failed to deliver goods to its clients, causing the bank to cut off loans. Also, major mining giants stopped trading with it.