Copper recovery eyed

Toronto
First Quantum Minerals laid out plans on Thursday for C$600 million ($492.05 million) in new spending to speed up project development, a sizeable bet on a copper market recovery it sees in two to three years.
The Vancouver-based miner, which is raising up to C$1.44 billion in a share issue, said it will use the remainder of the money to pay down debt.
“It’s better to build at the bottom of the cycle than at the top, but also to try and get as much of that pipeline into production to coincide with the inevitable rise in the copper price in the next two or three years,” First Quantum President Clive Newall said on a conference call with analysts.
First Quantum shares were down 4.4 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange at mid-session.
Scheduled to close around June 4, it is the second-biggest mining industry deal this year, following a $3.7 billion raise from Coal India Ltd in late January.