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Fortescue eyes establishing its copper properties, not looking at Cobre Panama

Australia's Fortescue , the world's fourthlargest iron ore miner, is looking at developing its copper resources but has not made a decision yet, its founder and executive chairman informed on Saturday.

The business has options in front of it ... we have a lot of copper choices on the table. And when we feel the time is right, we'll pull the trigger, Andrew Forrest said during a see to Beijing.

However, he said the company was not taking a look at First Quantum's idled Cobre Panama copper mine. Cobre Panama, one of the world's largest open-pit copper mines, was forced to shut in December after Panama's top court ruled its agreement was unconstitutional.

In February 2023, Fortescue stated it would concentrate on copper, unusual earths and lithium while ramping up expedition activities for crucial minerals portfolio.

We haven't pulled the trigger on lithium, which has actually been sensible due to the fact that their costs collapsed, stated Forrest.

Copper costs rallied about 13% from early February, touching an 11-month peak of $9,025.5 on Monday, before pulling back on Friday amid a more powerful dollar and earnings taking.

The trigger for the latest price jump was news that major leading Chinese copper smelters reached an arrangement to lower operation rates at some loss-making plants after their margins were squeezed amid a tightening up supply of basic materials.

By contrast, lithium costs fell more than 80% in the past year due to softening EV demand and surging products, forcing numerous high-cost manufacturers wordwide to cut production.

Foretescue will continue to invest in iron ore, a. steelmaking component, as demand from renewable resource and the. manufacturing sectors will grow, Forrest said.

There's constantly ups and downs, however the trend is still. increasing ... we're seeing China growing from a focus on. facilities to a dual focus on facilities and. production.