Cheap oil adds fuel to the problem of metals glut
Lower energy costs may lead to savings for miners but they also delay the production cuts needed to address their surplus stocks and falling prices
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London
THE collapse in oil and coal prices isn't just bad news for the energy industry. It's also compounding a global surplus in metals.
Ores are extracted with diesel engine diggers and trucks, while smelters that process metal run on electricity from coal-fired power plants. Energy accounts for as much as a third of the industry's costs at a time when everything from aluminium to zinc is mired in a prolonged slump and more mines are losing money. With oil tumbling about 70 per cent in the past two years to less than US$30 a barrel, cheaper fuel is allowing metals companies to delay production cuts needed to halt their own slide in prices.
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