Molybdenum/...As supply remains tight

摘要

The supply picture remains tight amidst issues such as lower ore grades and ageing mines affecting many South American producers. Chile's Codelco posted a 12 percent slide in H1 earnings, citing lower mineral grades, a strike and particularly rainy weather in May as the key factors behind the decline. The company's molybdenum production for H1 2008 dropped 9.1 percent against the same period last year to 10,000 tonnes, while sales dropped over 13 percent to 13,000 tonnes. However, Codelco also announced that it will invest 5 billion dollars over six years to treble production at the Andina mine, raising molybdenum production at the site to almost 7,600 tonnes from 2,252 tonnes at present. Meanwhile, Freeport-McMoRan saw Q2 earnings drop 14 percent to 947 million dollars, while earnings from molybdenum rose by 33 percent on the back of higher average prices. The company's production for Q2 was flat at 18m lbs, while the H1 figure was up just 1m lbs at 36m lbs.