China keen to buy copper mines to cover shortage

China will continue to acquire overseas copper mining assets to secure supply despite the uncertain outlook for commodity prices and scarcity of large projects, the vice-president of the country’s largest metal trader has said, the Financial Times reports. China is very short of copper resources. The world’s largest mining companies are looking to shed assets as they seek to cut their debt loads and move away from a large diversified business model focused on multiple commodities. But even miners with stretched balance sheets are not selling their best copper assets as the metal is expected to be in short supply by the end of the decade.