By Adam Whittaker
Glencore cut around 1,000 jobs as part of a restructuring that bets big on growing copper demand.
The commodities giant said it would invest heavily to increase copper production to around 1.6 million metric tons a year by 2035 as part of its goal of becoming one of the world's biggest copper miners. Glencore produced around 950,000 tons of the industrial metal last year.
Copper prices have rallied this year, with technology companies investing heavily in data centers. The metal is a core component in wiring and will be central to global electrification efforts.
Under the new structure, Glencore's nickel and zinc operations have been merged, while the company has created additional divisions covering Argentine capital projects and special projects.
Partly due to challenges at its Collahuasi mine in Chile, the company lowered the midpoint of its 2026 output guidance to 840,000 tons from 930,000 tons. Analysts had expected that guidance to fall.
The roughly 1,000 job cuts hadn't previously been disclosed. The Switzerland-based company has about 150,000 employees worldwide.
However, Glencore had said in August that it was targeting around $1 billion in cost savings by the end of 2026 following a review of its assets. It had expected to achieve more than half of this by the end of this year.
RBC Capital Markets analysts Ben Davis and Marina Calero said the updated strategy reverses a prolonged period of limited investment in the metal, with production having fallen 43% over the past 10 years,
Argentina will play a central role in delivering Glencore's copper ambitions. The company said Wednesday that it would restart its Alumbrera copper mine in northern Argentina in the fourth quarter of 2026, and aims for production to begin in the first half of 2028. The country is also home to the miner's El Pachon and Agua Rica copper projects.
Once up and running, the Alumbrera mine is expected to produce around 75,000 tons of copper, around 317,000 ounces of gold and around 1,000 tons of molybdenum over the four years of its operations.
London-listed Glencore shares were up 5% in afternoon trading.
Glencore said it has a pathway to deliver more than 1 million tons of copper a year by the end of 2028 but expects some near-term challenges.
Production in 2025 has been uneven, and is expected to come in at the lower end of its 850,000 to 910,000 tons guidance range, it said.
Glencore set a capital expenditure budget of around $6.5 billion a year through to 2028. However, this could rise by $1 billion in 2026, $1.7 billion in 2027 and $1.5 billion in 2028 if it proceeds with additional copper growth projects, it said.
Where possible, the company will seek partners to invest in projects in a bid to reduce financial and operational risks, it said.
Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-03-25 0935ET
