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1) With the bidding war that is shaping up for Teck Resources, Barrick Gold is not interested in bidding for the copper assets as there are only a few synergies between the companies, according to the CEO Mark Bristow. "We don't think we bring any synergies to that party," Bristow told Reuters, "We would just have to take over the debt and we still get the assets that don't bring synergies." Barrick has been trying to grow its copper business organically, exploring for resources in countries such as Chile and Argentina. "We have always said that if you want to be relevant as a gold miner you have to be in copper business," Bristow added.
2) Codelco, the world's largest producer of copper, and Chile's state-owned company posted a 73% drop in its pre-tax profit for the first quarter of the new year. The pre-tax profit totaled $418 million in the first quarter and was primarily due to both lower prices and sales volumes, according to the company's filing with Chile's main stock exchange. The output for the quarter was also down just over 10%, totaling about 326,000 tons, with copper sales falling 9.4% and sales volumes falling 1.7%. Production costs increased nearly 34% to about $204 per pound, compared with $153 per pound last year. CEO Andre Sougarret said that he expects gradual progress from 2024 through the end of the decade: "It's a complex transition time, between deposits that are running out and projects that are coming online."