Katanga Mining Ltd Ord KATFF

Congo’s biggest copper miner warns of operating loss

[Sogosohubidu201]

Dont count on the new supply to fill the void of Mutanda closure uless cobalt price is much higher than the current level. Even TFM, one of best copper cobalt mines, has problem at the current cobalt price. Cobalt price has to go up.

However, at $15 per pound cobalt price and $6500 per tonnes of copper price, Glencore projects that Katanga (KAT) will generate $1.3 billions USD ($1.72 billions Canadian dollars) EBITDA and $1.0 billion Canadian free cash flow. KAT mine is simply the lowest cost cobalt-copper mine in the world.


https://www.ft.com/content/f1e0b85a-c3f7-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9?sharetype=blocked

Tom Wilson‏Verified account @thomas_m_wilson 1h1 hour ago

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Congo’s biggest copper miner, #TFM, tells workers it's operating at a loss in latest sign of strain in #DRC mining sector. Serious technical issues also indicate major problems at TFM since Chinese takeover in 2016 via @FT

[Sogosohubidu201]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-21/china-molybdenum-says-giant-congo-copper-mine-is-losing-money The Chinese operator of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest copper producer has told employees that it’s struggling to make money as the collapse of cobalt and copper prices hits miners in the country. China Molybdenum, which operates the giant Tenke Fungurume mine

[Lech1988]

Pretty telling when one by one the largest mines in the Congo are admitting they are not profitable under the new operating regime and at current price levels.  I hope KAT can buck that trend but the past 18 months have been nothing but dire.  Also add in the fact that they have casually pushed back the commissioning of the ion exchange system by a year (note from what we understand they

[Sogosohubidu201]

I think that Glencore and KAT will deliver this time per Glencore conference call - staffs are in place and resources are in place. Ion Exchange is a less concern issue now since 90-94% produced cobalt now are salable with phosphoric acid precipitation process per the conference call. Ion Exchance is more a polish step and to make the process more robustic.

[Sogosohubidu201]

Another delay by Glencore and KAT to bring cobalt volume to the market will surely drive the cobalt price much much higher, the high cobalt price will compensate for lower cobalt volume from KAT if that happens. But I think that they will deliver this time.