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Base Metals
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General Market Commentary
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General Base Metals
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General Market Commentary
Base Metals Weekly Round-Up: DRC Sends Troops to Protect Mines
Base metals were ascendant this week, with each of the commodities up on where they started out on Monday, while major news developments between the US and Iran pushed oil around and gold neared six-year highs.
On the news front, fears over conflict between the US and Iran were heightened as President Donald Trump revealed he ordered a strike in retaliation for Iran’s downing of a US drone, but aborted the strike to save Iranian lives. American oil soared 10 percent as the news broke.
On the base metals front, copper, zinc, nickel and lead were all up as the end of the week rolled around, with the red metal rising to US$5,960 a tonne by Friday, a gain of 3.55 percent.
Meanwhile, zinc was also up to US$2,585 by Friday, though it was down off a weekly high of US$2,607.
Nickel was the best performer, jumping by 4.26 percent through the week to US$12,240 a tonne.
In news this week, the Investing News Network spoke with senior director at Americas Market Intelligence Remi Piet about risks posed to Ecuador’s bright future in mining in the form of community opposition. Listen to the full interview below, or read the story here.
In news from around the world in the base metals space, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was reported by Reuters to have deployed its armed forces in order to protect China Molybdenum’s (SSE:603993) Tenke Fungurume copper mine from illegal miners.
An army spokesman said that several hundred soldiers were deployed to protect the mine because of its contribution to the national economy, though a local watchdog group said that deploying troops was counterproductive and dangerous, given Congolese troops have fired on civilians in similar deployments.
In Chile, state-miner Codelco continues to grapple with strike action at its Chuquicamata mine after workers walked off the job last week.
According to sources, the company has been adding sweeteners to deals on the table in a bid to entice unions representing up to 80 percent of the mines workforce to support a return to work.