RE:RE:Glencore REDUCING production in 2018From Finanacial Times this morning:
"It (Glencore) added that it was “able and willing” to grow its business by “
reactivating idled capacity when appropriate”, expanding existing “brownfield” projects and “bolt-on acquisitions”.
To that end, the company said it would restart its Lady Loretta zinc mine in Australia in 2018, initially returning about 20 per cent of the 500,000 tonnes of zinc capacity it mothballed in 2015 when prices were in freefall. That figure will rise to 32 per cent as Lady Loretta ramps up toward full capacity in 2019.
Glencore's restart of 20% will hardly make a dent in the global production numbers for zinc in 2018. The ramp up to 32% will hardly make a dent in 2019 as well. They don't want to tame the bull market as it benefits their balance sheet tremendously. They're making more off of zinc now and have less production to manage and they probably like that.
These statements are more support for a strong zinc market continuing through 2019, something trevali and many other analysts agree on. The key for Trevali will be increasing efficeincies (cost and production) over the next year to fully benefit from this zinc run.