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Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), one of Russia’s leading producers of copper and nickel, has found an investor for its biggest project, Vedomosti reported on Jan. 11. China’s Highland Fund will acquire a 13.33 percent stake in the Bystrinsky copper project in the Zabaykalsky Territory for $100 million, according to the report.
The Bystrinsky project is estimated to be worth $750 million, Vedomosti said.
Highland Fund and Nornickel declined to comment on the deal to the paper.
“In the beginning of 2015, global copper prices fell by 5 percent to $4485 per ton. This is a temporary phenomenon, and Chinese investors have nothing to fear,” RMG analyst Andrew Tretelnikov told Vedomosti. Copper is one of the most stable metals in the long run, he added.
China has been increasing its copper consumption over the last decade, and accounts for 45 percent of the global demand for copper.
In 2015, the growth in demand for copper began to noticeably decrease in the country due to the overall slowdown in industrial production, Bloomberg said, citing a report by CRU Group, a London-based researcher.
According to forecasts of BNP Paribas analysts, global copper production may slow down sharply from 2017, causing a supply deficit. The copper mining industry will also have to deal with a decrease in the quality of copper ore, the bank told RBC.
