Jonathan Leng: ‘Now’s a Good Time to be Owning a Good-quality Zinc Project’

At last week’s PDAC conference, Resource Investing News had the chance to speak with a variety of zinc market participants, including Stefan Ioannou of Haywood Securities and Michael Williams, CEO of Vendetta Mining (TSXV:VTT). One other highlight was Jonathan Leng, manager, zinc, lead and gold mine supply, at Wood Mackenzie.

To start, Leng explained why he believes 2015 won’t be a particularly exciting year for zinc even though the longer-term outlook for the metal is good. “We don’t expect prices to really start to get better until late this year, and it’s from 2016 onwards that we really expect higher prices for zinc,” he said.

And while those involved in the zinc space know that the metal’s positive outlook is largely a supply-side story, Leng noted that demand is certainly part of the equation. “We’re forecasting healthy demand growth for zinc, and that’s driven by industrialization and urbanization in China. For China up to 2020 we’re expecting about 6 percent per year of demand growth, with weaker growth in the rest of the world of around 2.2 percent.” Overall zinc consumption should rise about 4 percent a year up to 2020.

To close he addressed the fact that it’s been tough lately for zinc juniors to find funding, noting that it’s not simply because their deposits aren’t good enough. “The main problem is that the investment community are not currently prepared to invest in zinc mines,” he said.

Watch the video below for more of this thoughts.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.

Related reading:

PDAC 2015: Notes from the Floor

Stefan Ioannou: Watch China for Zinc Price Outlook Clues

Vendetta Mining: Preparing for More Drilling at the Pegmont Lead-Zinc Deposit