METALS & MINING : On the road

Research evidence excerpt

METALS & MINING : On the road

EQUITIES

METALS & MINING

FLASH NOTE

On the road

22 MAY 2026 Sector Research Report Production time: 05:57* (London time)

Research Analyst & Publishing Entities

Alan Spence BNP Paribas London Branch (+44) 203 430 8554 alan.spence@uk.bnpparibas.com

We spent the last three days seeing >30 clients across Paris and Frankfurt. Interest in the sector remains high with

most incoming questions on base and precious metal exposure.

Interest is high, Hormuz an unknown

Meetings were constructive with most investors taking a medium- to long-term view that the sector is in good shape.

There was no real consensus on when and how the conflict in the Middle East will end so most meetings were under

the narrative of “assuming this doesn’t last long enough for the market to trade a global recessionary environment.”

Copper continues to dominate

We received the most incoming questions on copper and while there was some concern that current spot copper prices

(USD 13,595/t) could see some downside in the near-term, the medium-term outlook remains supportive. There wasn’t

much pushback to our recent First Quantum (+) upgrade (here) though there was some trepidation amongst the

predominantly long only investor meetings about getting involved prior to knowing with certainty what the new mining

contract will look like at Cobre Panama. Anglo American (+) routinely came up in meetings and was favoured amongst

the current diversified miners for its portfolio pivot towards copper and pending merger with Teck Resources (NC).

Glencore (+) tends to face more ESG related constraints amongst investors on the continent but there was an

acknowledgement of its portfolio being strongly positioned for the current move in energy markets and its marketing

business.