Market participants shared insight into the market dynamics for copper, nickel, zinc, lead and tin during LME Week, which ran September 30-October 4

The Western world’s industrial strength is beginning to drop, but Jakob Stausholm, chief executive officer of Rio Tinto, said at a London Metal Exchange seminar that there was “plenty of demand to be unlocked from reindustrialization.”

Freeport-McMoRan is in the process of ramping up its new copper smelter in Gresik, Indonesia, in a move that has seen the company switch away from being a marketer of concentrates as it becomes a fully integrated producer in the country, the company's chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk told Fastmarkets in an interview during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week 2024.

Long-term demand trends in the copper sector may reduce cyclical price moves driven by short term factors impacting sentiment, Freeport-McMoRan's chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk told Fastmarkets in an interview during the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week 2024.

Chilean copper producer Codelco has not yet concluded negotiations for its 2025 premium offer to European customers but remains optimistic that the recent stimulus in China will provide a further boost to demand, the company’s chairman told Fastmarkets.

The process to pick a partner for Codelco’s lithium properties in the Maricunga salt flat is highly competitive, with a result due at the start of 2025, the company’s chairman told Fastmarkets.

The copper concentrates market was suffering from a dislocation that would probably lead to smelting cuts, the chairman of Chilean state-owned producer Codelco has said.

Ferro-chrome markets in Europe have changed in 2024, and not just because the European quarterly benchmark finally ended in June: other changes have also taken place, in terms of pricing structure, sources of material and end-user demand, or lack thereof.

European steelmakers are committed to the decarbonization of the industry and are shifting to more environmentally friendly ways of working, despite the recent economic downturn making it more challenging to charge a premium for “green” steel, sources told Fastmarkets.

New mining frontiers were emerging but, ahead of the London Metal Exchange’s LME Week event, industry executives have warned of a supply squeeze, with regulatory hurdles and the costs of being ‘green’ hindering the production of copper and other critical minerals