SOLG MRE, page-78

3 hrs ago, Wed 14 Mar 2018
"These charts show just why copper price fundamentals are so strong."-Mining.com

Link: www.mining.com/charts-show-just-copper-price-fundamentals-strong/

Highlights:
<> "Steady copper supply is dependent on a few giant deposits that were discovered many generations ago and have been mined for decades - the median age for 2017*s top 10 copper mines in terms of production is 95 years."

<>"The 10 largest mines constitute 25% of annual world production & last yr a strike at Escondida, disruptions at Grasberg and protests at Las Bambas meant almost 7% of world production went offline at the same time."

<>"At today*s copper price the reserves of the top 10 deposits are v a l u e d at more than $1.4 t r i l l i o n. Based on the average copper price over the course of 2017, these mines earned more than $30 billion last year from the orange metal alone."

<."With the cut-off for 2017 at 400ktpa, only 1 project, Oyu Tolgoi*s u n d e r g r o u n d expansion- will crack the top 10 in the coming d e c a d e." ["peak production 560ktpa by 2025 after a $5.3 billion investment from Rio Tinto."]

"Cobre Panama & Quelleveco are likely to be the only entrants to the Top 20 largest copper mines over the n e x t decade where production above 200ktpa g u a r a n t e e s entry."

<> "World class copper discoveries are extremely rare."