‘More than any other commodity, iron ore has confounded the expectations of experts over the course of the past three years. Despite analysts being resolutely bearish in the face of tightening anti-pollution measures in China, the iron ore price has been the second best performing of 17 commodities since September 2016 – outperforming even palladium in dollar terms.’ Charles Gibson, Edison director of mining.
Why have iron ore prices peaked this year?
Interruptions to Vale’s Brazilian operations earlier this year, after the collapse of a tailings dam caused the death of more than 200 people and took more than 30m tonnes of annual iron ore production out of the market, are partly to blame for iron ore price increases. Vale subsequently received authorisation to restart its Brucutu mine, but at the same time Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest iron ore extractors, cut its production estimates, not for the first time this year.
Anglo Pacific Group PLC (LON:APF) has a 1.5% life of mine GRR over three exploration tenements in the central Pilbara region of Western Australia owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHP Group (LON:BHP), which is dual-listed on the LSE and ASX.