Recently, as the world's major mining companies have released their 2023 financial reports, the expected copper production data for 2024 has also been released. According to public information, CMOC leads the world's major mining companies with the highest new copper production of 150,500 tons, becoming the world's largest source of copper production in 2024.
This means that Chinese copper producers will continue to be strong this year. Based on the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) global mineral copper production of 22 million tonnes in 2023 and Goldman Sachs' forecast of 23 million tonnes in 2024, the two Chinese companies, China Molybdenum and Zijin Mining, will account for 25% of the increase in copper production in 2024.
According to statistics from Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network, the total output growth of the world's top ten leading mining companies in 2023 will be only 1%, and the decline in output of Chile's National Copper Company, First Quantum Mining, Glencore and Poland Copper Group Company has become the main reason for the growth of global copper mine production in 2023. In 2024, the planned copper production of some overseas mining companies will continue to decline.
According to public information, Freeport's copper output in 2023 will be 1.91 million tons, and the guidance output in 2024 will be 1.86 million tons, Anglo American's planned output in 2024 will be lowered to 730,000-790,000 tons from the original 910,000-1 million tons, Glencore's own copper production in 2023 will be 1.0101 million tons, and the planned copper output in 2024 will be 950,000-1.01 million tons, and First Quantum Mining's copper output in 2024 will be reduced to 708,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 9 percentage points.
Chile's National Copper Company, Southern Copper Company, Polish National Copper Group, Kazakh Copper, and Vale are all expected to grow slightly or remain unchanged from 2023.
In contrast, CMOC and Zijin Mining, two Chinese copper producers, have seen significant growth. In 2023, CMOC produced 419,500 tonnes of copper, with a production guidance of 520,000-570,000 tonnes in 2024 and a maximum increase of 150,500 tonnes, while Zijin Mining produced 1.01 million tonnes of copper last year and plans to produce 1.11 million tonnes in 2024. In addition, Minmetals Resources' median 2024 production guidance is around 340,000 tons, the same as last year, and the highest value of the guidance is about 20,000 tons more than last year.
CMOC and Zijin Mining's strong new copper production is driven by their high-quality projects.
According to CMOC's official WeChat account, its two world-class copper and cobalt mines, TFM and KFM, have been fully operational, with TFM having an annual copper production capacity of 450,000 tons and KFM having an annual copper production capacity of more than 90,000 tons. KFM produced more than 14,000 tonnes of copper in January this year and more than 15,000 tonnes in February, setting a record. Judging from the actual data and annual production capacity, KFM is currently in an "over-production" rhythm. It is worth noting that CMOC has also made it clear that it will strengthen its geological exploration work and start the reserve increase plan in preparation for the development of TFM Phase III and KFM Phase II.
Zijin Mining also owns more than 10 copper mines, including the Kamoa Copper Mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Julong Copper Mine in Tibet with a 50.1% interest, the Serbian Copper-Gold Mine with a 100% interest, and the Kolwezi Copper-Cobalt Mine with a 72% interest.
Copper is an economic metal, but also a new energy metal, in the context of the global new energy transformation, mining enterprises for the layout of copper, will become the current cycle, grasp the long-term cycle of the "winner". The contribution to the new global copper production will undoubtedly increase the company's performance and enhance its influence in the global copper market. For China, which is short of copper, more equity mines will further enhance the security of China's copper resources.
In fact, judging from the performance of the capital market, China Molybdenum and Zijin Mining are among the most sought-after resource stocks in the market this year. In Mining.com's latest market capitalization rankings as of the first quarter of this year, Zijin Mining and China Molybdenum ranked 6th and 21st, respectively, with the latter ranking first in the list of top 50 mining companies with an increase of 54%.