Zimbabwe is undergoing change and aims to attract more companies to do business in the country, but risks and challenges remain for businesses aiming to capitalise on the opportunities in the country. These were some of the views raised by Zimbabwean and international representatives during an information session on 'Doing business in Zimbabwe' hosted by the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry this week.

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals said on Wednesday the likelihood of taking out the 121 000 t of copper from its disputed Cobre Panama mine can only happen after the Panama national election. First Quantum's Cobre Panama is under preservation and safe maintenance after the current Panama government ordered the closure of the copper mine last year.

In response to Zambia's recent declaration of a national emergency owing to a severe drought affecting power generation, copper miner First Quantum Minerals is taking measures to ensure the continuity of its operations. Power utility Zesco has introduced daily eight-hour loadshedding for its retail customers and initiated consultations with mining companies to reduce power supply to the sector by 150 MW from May 1 to December 31. First Quantum’s operations are expected to have power curtailed by about 80 MW over this period.

A key measure of Chinese copper demand just sank to zero, another sign that global prices are not balanced with what buyers in the biggest market are prepared to pay. Premiums paid on imported refined copper extended a months-long decline to reach zero for the first time in Shanghai Metals Market data going back to 2017. The unusually low levels come just days after copper on the London Metal Exchange rallied to a two-year high near $10 000 a ton.

Some of the world’s biggest energy trading companies are returning to metals, years after getting burnt in the notoriously difficult markets. Vitol Group, Gunvor Group and Mercuria Energy Group are among the traders building out their metals teams, as they look to deploy capital generated by record profits.

Copper miner Freeport-McMoRan beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by higher production and easing costs. The mining giant said its quarterly production of copper rose to 1.1-billion pounds from 965-million pounds a year earlier, helped by a 49% jump in output from its Indonesia operations.

Chile's government is expected to receive 85% of "associated benefits" including taxes and lease payments from a planned partnership between state-run copper miner Codelco and lithium company SQM from 2031, Codelco chairman Maximo Pachecho said at an event on Tuesday. The two companies are negotiating the details of the agreement to partner on lithium mining in the Atacama salt flat, with a May 31 deadline to reach a final deal.

South Africa's rapidly advancing copper producer Copper 360 has shipped copper concentrate from the Northern Cape province for the first time in 21 years, which saw its shares rise by more than 26% on Wednesday, April 24. As South Africa’s only listed pure copper producer, Copper 360 has delivered record concentrate grades during plant commissioning, and is performing way ahead of expectation as a producer of concentrate and copper cathode.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) moved on Tuesday to stop traders from taking Russian aluminium from its approved warehouses and returning it at a later date to profit from rule changes to comply with new sanctions. The US and Britain earlier this month banned the LME from accepting new Russian production of aluminium, copper and nickel to restrict Russian revenues from the export of these metals.

Toronto-listed miner OceanaGold said on Wednesday it will raise 6.08-billion pesos ($106-million) through an initial public offering (IPO) of its Philippine unit, the first listing in the Southeast Asian nation in 2024. In a disclosure, OceanaGold Philippines Inc said it had priced its IPO at 13.33 pesos ($0.2326) per share, a discount of 23% to a maximum potential price of 17.28 pesos included in the filing to securities regulators.