An aerial view of Anglo American's Los Bronces copper mine at Los Andes Mountain range, near Santiago city, Chile in 2014.is igniting speculation that several Canadian copper miners could be snapped up as large-scale merger and acquisitions activity takes off once again., which is based in London for US$39-billion. If the deal is successful, BHP would become the world’s biggest copper producer, bypassing Chile’s Codelco.
Orest Wowkodaw, analyst with Scotia Capital Inc., said in a note to clients on Thursday that given the extreme challenge in building new copper mines and growing demand for metals used in low-carbon energy sources, the resumption of majorgetting acquired, pointing out that although the Vancouver-based miner has very attractive copper assets, Canadian regulatory concerns mean there is likely to be less interest from potential buyers in the near term.
Shares in Teck rose by 8.7 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday to close at $67.65 apiece, the best-performing stock in the TSX Capped Materials Index. The price of copper has rallied in recent months in part because of fears over potential supply issues. Late last year, Cobre Panama, one of the world’s biggest copper mines, was shut down by Panama after the country’s Supreme Court said that Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s contract was unconstitutional. Cobre Panama accounted for about 1.5 per cent of global output.