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Gold/Mining/Energy : Precious and Base Metal Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: siempre who wrote (26557)	1/8/2004 3:02:30 PM
From: siempre	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39344

CCU is busy on 3 fronts....Philippines, Australia & Utah... HQ'd in Denver....too many shares, need a 1 for 10 but are debt free...latest pr... biz.yahoo.com

To: siempre who wrote (26557)	1/16/2004 2:58:34 PM
From: siempre	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 39344

Copper thrives on global demand, tight supply...should benefit copper miners....a cheap one I've mentioned is CCU.. ------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday January 14, 5:28 am ET By Robin Paxton SINGAPORE, Jan 14 (Reuters) - There is no copper to be found in the usually bulging Asian warehouses of the London Metals Exchange. Singapore, Kwangyang and Pusan have been cleared out as China's economic juggernaut and a global recovery in demand for the metal drive prices to new highs. "It's getting to the stage where consumers are getting desperate for the metal," said Andrew Cole, an analyst at the London-based Metal Bulletin Research (MBR). A chronic shortage of copper concentrate, the key raw material, will lend support to a benchmark LME three-month copper (MCU3) price already near 6-½ year highs, analysts and traders said. After world copper inventories fell below 800,000 tonnes in the first week of 2004, the world's largest producer, Chile's Codelco, said it would release its 200,160-tonne stockpile gradually throughout the year. But traders said this would not alter forecasts of firm prices as the industry had already factored in the additional metal. China is leading the growth in consumption of copper, which is used as a component in many industrial sectors, from building infrastructure to electronic appliances and air conditioners. Antaike, China's state-owned mining and metals analyst group, said the country would increase consumption of copper to around 3.2 million tonnes this year from 2.9 million in 2003. But Antaike copper analyst Yang Changhua said the recovering global economy and worldwide growth in demand for copper would be the most important factors underpinning price strength. World refined copper consumption was forecast to rise 5.4 percent to 16.35 million tonnes, said MBR's Cole. He said world production would rise 5.3 percent to 15.95 million tonnes. PRODUCTION CUTBACKS A number of smelters in China, Japan and Korea said they would reduce copper output in 2004 due to the raw material shortage and low treatment and refining charges -- fees paid by miners to smelters for processing concentrate into metal. But world copper output is still forecast to rise in 2004. China's main smelters have increased capacity, while output cuts announced by some smelters in Asia may not happen, analysts said. They said most output cuts signalled reining in of earlier 2004 production targets, which were higher than 2003 output. Smelter officials in Asia said they were unable to run at full capacity due to the shortage of copper concentrate. A series of accidents at the big Grasberg mine, run by the Indonesian unit of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX - News), has severely disrupted supply of concentrate to its customers. Other mines in Asia are running flat out. A recent visitor to Newmont Mining Corp's (NYSE:NEM - News) Batu-Hijau mine in Indonesia told Reuters the mine has no spare concentrate for spot sales. An official at Ok Tedi Mining in Papua New Guinea said most of the company's concentrate is tied up in long-term contracts but that it may release 20,000-30,000 tonnes to the spot market in the second half of the year. MINING RESTART Industry watchers said the global concentrate shortage could trigger the restart of idle copper-mining capacity elsewhere, especially in North America. "When it becomes clear that (copper prices) can be sustained in the long term, various mines will start production increases," a major Japanese buyer of copper concentrate said. BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (Australia:BHP.AX - News) restarted full output at its giant Escondida mine in Chile from the start of the year. "You also have to allow for Phelps Dodge (NYSE:PD - News) restarting some of its 200,000 tonnes per year of idled capacity, and Grupo Mexico also has some spare to restart," MBR's Cole said. But the effects of any increase in mining will not be felt immediately. "Escondida is not going to be able to relieve the tightness until the second half of the year at the earliest. The Freeport situation is effective now," a trader in Singapore said. "The commissioning of other mines will ease the supply tightness in copper concentrates somewhat, but is unlikely to fully make up the shortfall," Yang of Antaike said «