Ann: Exploration Update - Drilling Recommences, page-88

“Copper futures surged above $4.71 for the first time in over two years, ahead of the $10,000 per tonne threshold, as markets continued to gauge the extent of supply deficits against bullish near and long-term demand. China’s Politburo changed its rhetoric to signal a deeper concern with the country’s property crisis, triggering expectations of rate cuts and speculation of quantitative easing. This aligned with a jump in copper ore imports and expansionary manufacturing PMIs, indicating that the world’s top producer of refined copper took in large volumes of inputs despite the sharp increase in prices. In turn, the pessimistic availability of copper ore due to setbacks in key mines hampered margins for smelters in China, responsible for over half of global supply, resulting in a potential 10% output cut this year. High costs of committing to new mines drove giant miners toward M&A activity instead of starting new projects, recently headlined by BHP’s attempt to buy Anglo American.looking promising”

a neat précis from tradingeconomics.com