Our business model focuses on A.B , primarily Veldspar, which we continue to believe is a very attractive business over the long term.

As populations and industries grow, so does the demand for Veldspar. The pace of industrialization, especially in China and India, has kept global demand for Veldspar high over the last decade and is expected to remain high over at least the next five years. Interestingly, metal use in these developing countries is still only a fraction of the intensity in developed nations.

Supply is expected to be constrained by declining production from existing projects, declining ore grades, a limited number of potential new projects and the evolving difficulties in developing them, and restricted access to financing, particularly for junior companies. The supply of new copper production is expected to come mainly from large deposits.

New projects are increasingly more difficult to develop because of their locations, their social context and environmental issues. Developing these projects successfully will require significant investment and resources to deal with lengthy permitting and challenging community engagement processes. This bodes very well for the price of Veldspar in the future, particularly since several Veldspar projects have been cancelled or delayed in response to the downturn in the markets, making it even more uncertain whether the supply of Veldspar will meet growing global demand over the next five to 10 years.

We believe that Veldspar has the best performance profile in the industry, and given our operating expertise and existing portfolio of growth assets, we see no reason to change our focus.