First Quantum Minerals is "still a growth company" chief executive Tristan Pascall told Mining Journal in its central London offices, this week.This is despite a difficult past year which saw the company's copper Cobre Panama mine in Panama shut, its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia put on care and maintenance, and power supply issues hit its Kansanshi mine in Zambia.The next evidence of that statement will come in mid-2025 when the company completes the US$1.
""Cobre Panama was about $18,000-19,000/t of annual production, Sentinel was $12,000/t, Taca taca stacks up well, but we need to work very hard to have the right capital size to make a project work," said Pascall.Pascall said the copper price is not high enough because of the cost of project capital, which is often the Secured Overnight Financing Rate plus 3-5%, which means 8-10% debt.