This base metal is crucial to the world. Its primary use is for galvanising steel, to provide a rust proof coating. This is about 50% of usage. About 25% goes into brass and the rest is used in die casting, coins and of course throat lozenges.
On 28th January 1999, the price at the LME was $957.50 a tonne. The metal inventory in the LME warehouses was 314,650 tonnes. A year earlier there were 485,000 tonnes in the warehouses and the price was about $1,100 a tonne. This is a 35% decline, the price of Zn must rise soon.
As of today, 31st March 2005, the spot price of zinc is $1352 per tonne or 61.35c per lb. The inventory is 575,050 tonnes down from a peak of 787,411 tonnes almost a year ago on 13 April 2004. It is now generally asssumed that any available zinc outside of the LME has been used or moved into the LME inventories.
Let us use this forum to post interesting tidbits and statistics on Zinc and to point out those companies that will benefit from the forthcoming increase in the price of Zinc. In Canada Breakwater (BWR), Teck (TEK.B), Noranda (NOR), Inmet (IMN), Hudson Bay Minerals (HBM) are producers. Yukon Zinc (YZC) Canadian Zinc Co (CZN) and Redhawk (RDK) are potential producers. Add to my list please.
The largest Australian producer is Zinifex. |
