Mines to shine as coal, base metals prices soar

A steady rise in the price of coal and copper has come as a godsend to local miners, who have just emerged from a crippling year characterised by some of the worst economic conditions on record.

BCL Mine, Morupule Colliery, African Copper and Discovery Metals are some of the local mines positioned to benefit from rising coal and copper prices. Last week, copper prices hit a 17-month high, triggered in main by a strike at a Chilean copper mine, the world's biggest producer of the base metal. The metal rose to US$7 400 a tonne, up from about US$2 900 a tonne at the beginning of 2009.Besides the Chilean strike, the copper price has also been influenced by investor demand, economic optimism and strong demand, particularly from China. The Oriental giant is stockpiling the base metal as extremely cold weather conditions are expected to impact output from its own copper mines.

International traders report that Beijing plans to secure 300,000 tonnes of copper and could ramp this up to 1.2 million tonnes before the end of the year.

Editor's Comment
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