Low metal prices put lead and zinc firms under pressure
Fri, Oct 24, 2008
By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Lead Investing News
Lead and zinc were on par with this week’s bearish market sentiment. Growing evidence that the financial crisis was spreading throughout the globe hit the metals hard; most influential this week was news that pointed directly to a gloomy economic future for metals consuming giant China.
Shanghai zinc trading was suspended on Friday for one day, after it fell by its daily limit for three consecutive sessions. On the LME, zinc cash buyer ended the week at $1,061.00 per tonne. Seller and sentiment were $1062.00 per tonne, three month buyer was $1,103.50, seller was $1104.00, 15 month buyer was $1203.00, seller $1,208.00. To understanding the magnitude of zinc’s losses this week, on Monday cash buyer, seller and sentiment were approximately $1175.00 per tonne.
For lead, Friday LME cash buyer was $1150.00 per tonne, seller and sentiment was $1150.50 per tonne, three month buyer $1165.00 per tonne, three month seller $1166.00 per tonne, 15 month buyer $1210.00 per tonne, and 15 month seller was $1215.00 per tonne. Lead commenced the week at just over $1400.00 per tonne, cash buyer, seller and sentiment. This was lead’s biggest weekly decline since 1980.
OPEC announced early Friday morning that they would slash output in an effort to close the floodgates on dropping oil prices. Since reaching a record high of $147.27 per barrel in July, oil prices have slid to $63 per barrel. The prices of many of the metals, zinc and lead included, are tied directly to the price of crude, therefore oil’s drop has undoubtedly contributed to the metals fall. However, following OPEC’s announcement the skeptics were soon to come up to the table, questioning if OPEC’s cut - a 1.5 million barrel per day decrease, would be enough. These experts think that the decrease should have been closer to 2 million barrels per day, a significant psychological level.
Company news
The collapse in the price of zinc has pushed Australia’s third largest diversified mining company, OZ Minerals‘ Century mine in Queensland into loss-making territory. In order to cut costs, the company is considering whether it should cut production or defer a life-extending waste rock removal program. OZ has also made clear that one of its key growth options, the proposed $500 million development of the Dugald River project, will not proceed until metal prices rebound. Despite those setbacks, OZ has the balance sheets to support its committed projects: Prominent Hill copper/gold in South Australia, Martabe gold in Indonesia, the copper expansion in Sepon in Laos, and the Century waste rock removal program.
Managing director Andrew Michelmore is also convinced that the sell-off in metals and miners is overdone. He said there was still growth in demand and that metal prices were “not reflecting the fundamentals” because of the “emotional” reaction to the global credit crisis and economic slowdown. The Century mine is the world’s second-biggest producer of zinc, and was the prized asset of Zinifex, which merged with Oxiana earlier this year to form OZ.
Blue Note Mining Inc. (TSX.V:BN) has put its Caribou and Restigouche zinc and lead operations in New Brunswick on “temporary care and maintenance. Despite the company’s excellent track record in operation performance, the current zinc and lead prices have rendered the project unprofitable. In August, Blue Note cut its workforce at the Caribou zinc mine to 300 from 370 employees and also reduced the mine’s capital spending budget to $17.8 million from $26.3 million.
Tags: bearish market, China, copper, financial crisis, futures, gold, investing news, lead, lead investing, LME, market sentiment, metal, metals, mines, mining, mining company, oil prices, opec, price of zinc, zinc
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October 26th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
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