Recently, a record high shipment of copper concentrate was recorded by Sandfire Resources. The shipment was from the DeGrussa operation in Western Australia. The copper concentrate began its journey from Geraldton to India, weighing approximately 23,374-wet-metric-tonne.
Its approximate value is a staggering 64.5 million thanks to current copper prices. The previous record for comparison sits at $52 million from December 2020.
The Managing Director of Sandfire, Karl Simich said the shipments are a landmark for the company.
“It provides a further indication of the extremely strong demand for high-quality copper concentrates globally and reinforces the deep, liquid and mature nature of the global copper market. With a strong production base in Australia and development of our new long-life Motheo-T3 copper mine in Botswana gathering momentum, Sandfire is extremely well placed to capitalise on what some forecasters expect to be a new super-cycle for copper as the global energy transformation takes hold,” said Karl Simich.
The reason behind the growing demand for copper is largely thanks to the increase in demand for green energy, including electric vehicles and other new energy resources.
Production is estimated to reach 67,000 to 70,000 tonnes of contained copper and 36,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold for the 2021 financial year.