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1) Goldman Sachs is expecting a commodities supercycle that will be driven by China and investors looking to escape from the energy markets as concerns rise from the instability in the banking sector. “As losses mounted, it spilled into commodities,” Jeff Currie, global head of commodities for Goldman Sachs, told the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit. “Historically, when you have this kind of scarring event, it takes months to get capital back … We will still get a deficit by June and it will drive oil prices higher.” He also remains very bullish on copper and says that the commodities will be in high demand with low supply. “On copper, the forward outlook is extraordinarily positive. We’ll be at the lowest observable inventories that have ever been recorded at 125,000 tones. We have peak supply occurring in 2024…Near term we put it at $10,500 and longer term our price target is $15,000 a ton.”
2) The Metals Company (TMC) has released the results of a lifecycle analysis of the environmental impacts of the company's NORI-D Polymetallic Nodule Project that was carried out by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. The analysis assessed the global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, particulate matter formation and water consumption of mining, transportation, processing and refining of intermediate NiCuCo matte product and end-products nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate and copper cathode. The results came back saying that the TMC's NORI-D performed better in almost every impact category. The NORI-D only underperformed when it came to the global warming potential and water consumption of cobalt sulfate from one land-based route from the DRC refined in China. The study found dramatic results when it came to TMC's nickel sulfate product would outperform not just Indonesian nickel but all other key land-based production routes, lowering emissions by 70%-80% on average with a 70% lower global warming effects. The Metals Company is looking to mine the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, located between Hawai'i and Mexico. The ore is found in potato-sized rock-like nodules, containing nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper.