Oil prices fell yesterday as investors eyed an OPEC meeting this week and weighed evidence of a global economic recovery. Trading was light because U.S. markets were closed for Memorial Day. Crude for July delivery settled at $61.05 (U.S.), off 62 cents in electronic trading.

Gold US$/troy ounce 958.80 1.40

Silver US$/troy ounce 14.75 0.06

Copper US$/lb 2.08 0.00

Lead US$/lb 0.65 0.00

Zinc US$/lb 0.67 0.00

Aluminum US$/lb 0.64 0.00

Nickel US$/lb 5.68 0.00

Oil West Texas US$/bbl 61.02 0.00

Nat Gas Henry Hub US$ mmbtu 3.41 0.00

Nat.Gas AECO C C$/gigajoule 3.42 0.00

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Copper Mine Supply Could Lag Demand Growth - Macquarie

djones

SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Copper mine supply could struggle to match forecast
demand growth in the period to 2013, Macquarie Bank said in a report dated
Tuesday.

The bank said copper demand was expected to be 4 million metric tons higher in
2013 than 2009, implying that a significant number of new mine projects will
need to come onstream to balance the market.

"There is little margin for delays and disruption, and it is fairly easy to
make a case for the copper market being very tight at some stage over this
period," said the report.

Macquarie noted that well known mega-projects like BHP Billiton's (BHP)
Olympic Dam will not come onstream until the middle of the next decade, leaving
supply dependent on smaller mines.

"Overall, what we find is that there is only a very small number of large
expansions committed for the next five years, and the largest are in the 100,
000-200,000 tons per annum range," it said.

The bank said there are a large number of smaller-scale projects that have the
potential to fill the gap, but there is little visibility on whether these
mines, currently in the possible or probable categories, will come onstream in
time.

"The collapse in prices in the fourth quarter of last year and the lack of
available funding since that time have put many of these projects on the back
burner, and whether they can be brought into production in time to meet demand
is questionable."

The bank said that around half the new mine supply will come from Latin
America and around a quarter from Africa, with the rest of the world supplying
the balance.