KUALA LUMPUR: The long-term outlook for minerals and metals is still bullish despite the crisis in Europe and the economic slowdown in China, says the Malaysian Chamber of Mines.
President Datuk Seri Mohd Ajib Anuar said demand for minerals and metals would continue to grow in the long-run, fueled by various development projects, amid tighter supply due to lack of resources.
“Minerals are getting more and more difficult to discover. They are in remote places, of lower grades and cost more to mine,” he told Bernama.
Mohd Ajib said the current demand and supply of minerals and metals were affected by the crisis in Europe and slowdown in China.
“As a result, the metal prices are somewhat subdued or depressed. But in the long-term fundamentals are still intact,” he said.
On this year’s outlook, he said the production of minerals and metals in Malaysia was expected to grow with the encouraging strategic support from state government in-terms of issuing mining licences.
“We are expecting an increase in tin, limestone and iron ore production this year,” he said.
Last year, state authorities issued 50 mining licences covering the states of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Sarawak.
Major minerals production in the country rose 26 per cent to RM5.45 billion last year from RM4.32 billion in 2010.
The production of non-metallic minerals stood at RM2.36 billion while the production of metallic and energy minerals were estimated at RM2.69 billion and RM400 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, on the outlook for tin, he said the prices were expected to remain volatile this year due to the crisis in Europe but the long-term fundamentals of the commodity was still strong.
“We believe this is a short-term blip. Within the next few years we will see a deficit in tin supply and for 2012 alone, we will have a deficit of 10,000 tonnes between demand and supply,” he said.
He said although Europe was in recession, China and the United States economy was still growing and the overall global demand for tin would remain steady and might even be slightly higher than last year’s level. — BERNAMA