The coronavirus has temporarily derailed talks to sell a minority stake in First Quantum Minerals’s Zambian operations, company executives said.
The virus outbreak is preventing face-to-face meetings with potential Chinese buyers, postponing a sale that’s key to the Vancouver-based First Quantum’s $2-billion debt-reduction plan, the copper miner said during its fourth-quarter earnings call.
Concerns that the virus outbreak will slow demand in China, the largest consumer of most commodities, have rattled markets around the world. That sent copper prices tumbling, highlighting the need for miners to hedge against volatility.