Frik Els

1 month ago | mining.com | Frik Els

Glencore on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in copper output in the first quarter, sending stocks of the company trading in the US sharply lower. Glencore over the counter units trading on US markets (OTCPK:GLNCY) plummeted by 8.6% in late morning dealings, paring earlier losses. Glencore stock is down more than 26% so far this year affording the company a market capitalization of just under $40 billion. The company’s market value peaked at the end of Q1 2022 at more than $90 billion.

1 month ago | mining.com | Frik Els

At the start of the year cobalt prices fell to their lowest level ever on an inflation adjusted basis and reached near decade lows nominally.  A surge in supply from the Congo, responsible for 80% of the world’s cobalt output, coupled with tepid demand from the electric vehicle market, saw cobalt sulphate entering the EV battery supply chain in China fall to an average of just $3,556 per tonne in January. That compares to a peak of nearly $19,000 a tonne in 2022.

1 month ago | mining.com | Frik Els

World’s 50 most valuable miners are now worth $1.4 trillion, up $80 billion from end-2024 boosted by gold stocks after copper, lithium producers sold off again. Two weeks into the second quarter, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, up $79.7 billion so far in 2025. The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains almost $400 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.

1 month ago | mining.com | Frik Els

With so much happening in copper – from all-time highs mixed with price collapses – it’s easy to lose sight of the giant hole that exists in the industry where dynamite meets bedrock. Cobre Panama has now been sitting idle for 18 months, ordered to shut down by a supreme court ruling following months of protests that rocked the Central American nation. The massive First Quantum Minerals mine, which entered production in 2019 is an increasingly rare phenomenon in copper mining.

2 months ago | mining.com | Frik Els

2024 was a record-breaking year for the global electric vehicle industry. In total, 865.5 GWh were added to the electric car parc, an expansion of 171.8 GWh, or 25% compared to the year before. The batteries of electric vehicles, including plug-in and conventional hybrids, sold globally during 2024 contained a combined 1.76 million tonnes of graphite, LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent), nickel, cobalt and manganese, outpacing growth in GWh and unit sale terms.