Zinc’s Short- to Medium-term Outlook Compelling, Says Trevali CEO

BNamericas reported that according to Mark Cruise, CEO of Trevali Mining Corp. (TSX:TV), the short- to medium-term price outlook for zinc is “more compelling” than it is for other base metals. He believes zinc prices have a base of about US$0.85 per pound, but thinks that is strengthening.

Cruise said:

There’s an awful lot of copper supply coming on in the next two or three years. Conversely, there haven’t been any world-class zinc discoveries since the mid-1990s, so there are no new major zinc mines being built anywhere.

A lot of the big mines that were built in the 1970s are nearing exhaustion – there’s about five or six that will close down by 2015 – so it looks like 10% of world supply is just going to disappear.

We also produce quite a lot of lead by-product. Lead markets are more or less in balance to slight deficit. Lead fundamentals are probably stronger than zinc in 2014.

Click here to read the full BNamericas report.