中国是全球最大的铜消费国。但是铜产量却只占全球的的8.7%，与此形成鲜明对比的是预计到2018年中国的铜需求会上涨48%。
拉斯班巴斯铜矿位于南美洲秘鲁南部海拔4000米以上的安第斯高原，是目前世界上在建的最大铜矿山。英国斯特拉塔公司曾是它的主人，如今取而代之的是以中国五矿为首的中国企业联合体。
全球优质的大型铜矿资产过去基本都掌握在国际巨头手中，中国企业以前鲜有机会获得。拉斯班巴斯项目原为秘鲁政府所有，2004年8月英国斯特拉塔集团通过竞拍获得该项目独家开发权。2012年2月，全球最大金属企业嘉能可与斯特拉塔宣布合并，并提请中国监管机构进行反垄断审查。同年4月中旬，中国商务部批准两大巨头合并，但要求新公司在指定时间内剥离一定的铜资产以降低垄断能力，拉斯班巴斯项目因此成为待售资产之一。
中国的财团与银行就融资方案进行了讨论，与嘉能可的谈判持续了很久，直到近两年，铜价开始下滑，嘉能可才完全出售拉斯班巴斯铜矿，此次收购是中国企业最大的一次海外并购交易。
While global copper production was up 3.5% in 2015, Chinese output declined.
At 1.66 million tonnes, China's mine production accounts for 8.7% of global supply of just over 19 million tonnes last year. That contrasts with Chinese demand for the metal which is expected to grow to 46% of worldwide copper consumption by 2018.
China is the world's number two producer but is likely to be overtaken by Peru in the near future after the South American country's output surged 28% last year.
Peru's production is set to jump again this year and next as projects come on stream led by the giant Las Bambas project which made its first shipment in January.
Las Bambas, a project started over a decade ago by Xstrata, is majority owned by China's Minmetals with two other Chinese conglomerates holding the remaining 37% in the project. One of the richest prizes in the copper world.
Chinese authorities carefully engineered the 2014 acquisition of the Las Bambas copper project over a period of two years, by making its approval of the Glencore-Xstrata merger dependent on the Swiss-based company's disposal of Las Bambas.
Las Bambas was likely just the curtain raiser for many future Chinese forays outside the country in search of copper sources. Chinalco's 75,ooo tpa Toromocho expansion also in Peru, Guangdong Rising's new 50,000 tpa Inca de Oro (Chile) and 125,000tpa Frieda River (PNG) projects are others.
“We all know there are not many Las Bambas out there, it’s not easy to develop a huge mine,” Jerry Jiao, vice-president of China Minmetals, told the World Copper Conference in Santiago reports the FT:
“China is very short of copper resources. The only way to have a stable supply of copper resources … going overseas is the only solution.”
How Beijing landed copper's flagship project
Glencore and Xstrata first announced a merger February 2012 and after much shareholder wrangling and jumping through regulatory hoops China was the last country to approve the deal – a full 14 months later.
There was one, pretty specific, proviso.
Glencore must give up Las Bambas. Or something of equivalent significance for future global copper supply (nothing springs to mind).
The Swiss-based firm had already lavished $4 billion on the Peruvian mine and China took its sweet time to ink a deal.
While negotiations of the sale dragged on for another year Las Bambas was being thoroughly de-risked (compared to the likes of a Conga or Oyu Tolgoi, it appears to have been smooth-sailing) and readied for production by one of the more experienced teams in the global copper mining game.
At the same time the copper price was sliding to a near four-year low, strengthening China's hand in the final month of talks before the consortium led by Minmetals finally came to a $6 billion agreement.
Both sides walked away satisfied, at least according to Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg.
Las Bambas, which is operated by Melbourne-based MMG, is set to become the world's third largest copper mine boasting peak capacity of 400,000 tonnes of copper (and not insubstantial quantities of molybdenum, gold and silver).
