The bulk of the world's copper smelting capacity is moving towards the Asian continent, while environmental and other requirements will likely move the industry to incorporate different technology, a Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) executive said Tuesday.

Currently, 45% of the world's copper smelting capacity, mostly belonging to non-integrated smelters, is located in Asia, versus only 2% in the 1970s-1990s, Freeport's senior vice president of marketing and sales Javier Targhetta said during a presentation at the 10th annual CRU World Copper Conference.

This Asian capacity doesn't, however, include Japanese smelters.

Copper smelters throughout the world currently operate with a mix of technologies, including the recent Isasmelt and the older flash and reverberation ovens.

According to Targhetta, newer environmental requirements and the availability of sulphuric acid, crucial to the smelting process, will likely change how the industry applies its technology and where new smelters come on line.

Smelting companies could be looking for mines themselves in a bid to integrate production and ensure supply, he added.

A shift in global copper consumption, from industrialized nations to China and India in recent years is also changing where most smelters are located.

"In the 21st century, 64% of world copper consumption comes form Asia," Targhetta said.

He noted that growing demand in countries such as Russia and Brazil and the growth in the African copper mining industry could eventually produce yet another production shift in global smelting capacity.

-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8919; carolina.pica@dowjones.com
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