- BHP has called off the sale of its smallest Chilean copper operation for the time being as a would-be sale to EMR Capital Advisors has fallen apart over a lack of financing
- China’s copper imports fell 3% in November from a year ago to 456,000 tons, but they were up 8.6% from October’s number at 420,000 tons
- Conservation and clean-water groups this week appealed state permits issued for the PolyMet open-pit copper and cobalt mine in northern Minnesota and filed a separate appeal challenging the state’s mining rules
- Japan’s Mitsubishi Materials says its Indonesia copper smelting unit, PT Smelting, has declared force majeure on deliveries of products to some customers as maintenance at its plant has been extended
- Antipa Minerals, which is currently exploring at a Western Australia-based copper project with partner Rio Tinto, says it’s striking out so far in terms of finding an economically viable deposit
- Excelsior Mining has begun construction on its Gunnison copper project in Arizona with an aim to commission its mine by Q4 of 2019
- Canada’s Teck Resources has agreed to sell a 30% stake in its Quebrada Blanca copper mine expansion in northern Chile to Japan’s Sumitomo for US $1.2 billion
- Australia’s South32 has signed a new, $1 million funding agreement with Canada’s EMX Royalty Corp, which will support generative work on copper projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah
- Altius Royalty Corporation has exercised a royalty option, originally entered into on July 19, 2013, on Excelsior Mining’s Gunnison copper project in Arizona, in exchange for C$5 million
- Premiums for imports of copper into China, the world’s largest consumer of the metal, sank to an 18-month low this week, in a sign that demand for physical metal is waning after a buying spree
