“The South American copper market is having some shaky economics as Chile is looking at nationalizing their copper mines. This stifles exploration and capital investment in the copper industry in Chile,” McGivern said.
There are some rumblings of potential strikes in Peru, he added.
Chile and Peru are the top producers of copper in the world, and the United States is ranked fifth.
Moly is a little harder to predict as it’s a smaller market.
“China is a big factor,” McGivern said. “They have a lot of moly, and the ability to control prices, how much they want to let out, how much they want to stockpile. They’re a major player in the moly market in the world.”
Post-pandemic, Europe is buying a lot of moly for infrastructure which is a good sign for the price, McGivern said.
MR can’t control the prices, only how they extract the ore — and ship it.
With the help of traders, MR has cut back this year on copper shipping expenses by sticking to railway instead of going overseas to China or Brazil as it has sometimes done in the past. The move is especially impactful because sea freight prices are up, McGivern said.
MR’s copper is today shipped to smelters in Quebec, Canada and Utah, and the moly to Idaho.
