Certainly today the paradigm is reversed

The escalation of the price of the raw materials seem it sustainable

It is thirty-seven years that I have worked in the mining industry and never I had seen as robust base metals prices. Certainly, courts do not ascend to the sky, but the fundamentals are very strong. And prospects of the market also. China and the India are many. In the old empire of the environment, metals per capita consumption is now lower than that of a century ago. Chinese demand should not falter until 2008-2009, despite the attempts of the authorities in Beijing to control growth. In the face, on production capacity, the delay on the new world situation of these markets remains impressive.

Can an upgrade of the production capacity be done quickly

The refloating of the production, its implementation in line with overall demand will take five to ten years, on condition that the mineral groups retain their current rate of investment. It should be kept in memory be ten years on average between the beginning of the geological research and the finalization of a new project of mine. And everyone in our environment, remembers what happened before this last, exceptionally long, upward price cycle. At the time, investors feared above all increases in capacity, new projects, the expansion of existing ones. Certainly, today, the paradigm is reversed. The shortage us depends on the nose. The price of oil will remain historically high for a long time. Those of non-ferrous metals, at least for five years. Stocks are very low. This scenario does however not cyclic oscillations courses, like that observed lately. Then, in the longer term, a new rollover risk will inevitably increase.

The mining industry, keeps a bad picture Is this still justified

No, I do not think that the extractive sector is also poorly perceived. Appreciation changed better first to investors. But they still equate it the risk and former industry", as opposed to high-technology activities. The general feeling is that the world has become less safe. But this is not something new or specific to our business. What has changed, however, is communication. In our case, it should now go directly to the populations affected by mining operations. Relationship with organized groups of pressure is not sufficient. Do not forget that we are often hosts. Need to worry about what will remain after it will be left when the mines are depleted. This is why it must be particularly attentive to the problems of waste and organize to at the outset of the transfer of skills and technologies to local populations.

How you understand the activity of investment funds on commodity markets

The volatility is essentially because of financial speculation. On a fundamental level, the role of investment funds is negative. Our industry requires that the prices are the most stable possible. Our very long investment cycles marry well with erratic courses, led by investors purely interested in the close financial performance. Our clients also often destabilized by the sudden price changes that have no relationship with the actual terms of these markets. They ask us supplies secure more stable prices. Nevertheless, their discharge, funds provided to natural resource markets liquidity that didn't them.

Mining companies are taken in a frenzied movement of consolidation. How far will he go

The consolidation of the mining sector is certainly not over, even if, in my view, the opportunities are increasingly scarce. Falconbridge himself there, recently bought by Xstrata. The valuations are very high, but the competition requires the formation of groups with a critical size of market capitalization at least $ 25 billion. In terms of business strategy, diversification of products is strict. I do not so much to the approach that favours the vertical integration of activities. On the other hand, a product mix containing both energy, mineral and aluminium refined along the non-ferrous metals is probably the winning combination.