China Minmetals Corporation held its annual work conference on January 24. In the face of the grim situation of continued profound adjustments in the metal and mining industry and successive record lows in commodity prices, Chairman He Wenbo called upon the entire company to rise to the challenge to tide over the current industrial difficulties.

It is learned at the work conference that facing a great number of challenges, Minmetals timely adjusted its work ideas to ensure stability in times of crisis and made progress while ensuring stability in 2015. While ensuring operational safety throughout the year, it made its traditional trade advantages more prominent, with significant progress in international operations, new achievements in diversified business, and breakthroughs in structural adjustments. In 2015, it achieved RMB 218.06 billion in business turnover and operated 84.003 million tons of commodities. Among them, the output of iron concentrate was 6.836 million tons, an increase of 2.6%; the output of copper was 217,000 tons, a record high; the total steel exports were 3.339 million tons, ranking third in China. Particularly, in the traditional area of commodity trading, relying on its deep insights into the market and advantages in global market knowledge, it made profits in copper, iron ore and coal; in international operations, Peru-based Las Bambas Copper Mine, the largest overseas M&A project in China’s metal and mining industry, was fully completed and smoothly commissioned. It has successfully obtained the exclusive right to explore and the priority to exploit the mining area with polymetallic nodules at the bottom of the Eastern Pacific Ocean covering an area of 73,000 km2, making it the first Chinese enterprise to obtain such rights in the area; in diversified business, all the business units of its financial sectors have made profits, significantly enhancing the ability of Minmetals to resist risks in the metal and mining industry, an industry with a strong cycle. It is particularly worth mentioning that at the end of 2015, taking the opportunity of deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises and promoting state-owned economic restructuring, it took a huge step to conduct strategic restructuring with China Metallurgical Group Corporation. Thanks to this powerful combination between two enterprises respectively in the downstream and upstream of the industry chain and “complementary restructuring”, Minmetals has significantly enhanced its ability to develop resources, its capabilities of comprehensive services and collaboration throughout the industry chain, and its international competitiveness, with an asset size of RMB 705.5 billion.

As the largest integrated metal and mining enterprise in China, Minmetals made an in-depth analysis of the metal industry at its internal meeting, concluding that given the profound adjustments in the world economy and weak growth in the global economy and trade, the metal and mining industry as a whole has entered a period of sharp adjustments. The metal and mining industry has a long cycle. Those in the industry must rationally view the current supply and demand adjustments and market changes. Both at home and abroad, there is long-term demand for metals and minerals, and the total demand is still on the rise. Along with the domestic economic restructuring, particularly increasing efforts in supply-side reform, the global metal and mining industry will reshuffle in the next few years. Such sharp adjustments will be painful, but the metal and mining industry is by no means a sunset industry. Through strategic restructuring, Minmetals has grown into the largest integrated metal and mining enterprise in China. Staffed by an international team of professionals, it has a solid foundation and strong international influence in terms of resource merger and acquisition, resource development, mining operation, and minerals trade. It has the opportunity and ability to take the current opportunity of low asset prices and favorable cross-border mergers and acquisitions brought by this round of profound adjustments to enhance China’s ability to allocate resources worldwide and to create another Minmetals overseas.

Based on the above judgments, in 2016, Minmetals will unswervingly boost the metal and mining industry as the main industry and promote the configuration of diversified industries, unswervingly promote international development, and keep enhancing its ability to resist risks. According to the overall deployment and requirements of the SASAC, it will strive to resume its growth in efficiency in 2016 and achieve steady growth in 2017, so as to make breakthroughs in times of industrial downturn.