What happened? Metals and mining companies attending day two of our 19th annual Transitioning Materials Conference were Acerinox (+), Anglo American (=), Antofagasta (-), Aperam (+), Boliden (=), Freeport (+), Outokumpu (=), Rio Tinto (+), South 32 (-) and Voestalpine (=). BNPP Exane View: Freeport (+) - Confident message on export license and leaching growth Confident on discussions regarding a mine license extension beyond 2041 which will allow PT-FI (Grasberg) to be optimised for a longer life of mine, rather than just the next 15 years, and open up optionality for more underground exploration work where they are confident there is more ore to be found. Relationship with government is strong and best it has ever been. Leaching is the best growth option for them as it is low cost and there is abundant resource amenable to it within their portfolio, especially relative to peers. Labour tightness remains, especially in the US, and is one driver of the decision to take a slower decision with Bagdad expansion. Rio Tinto (+) - Targeting steady growth with copper at the forefront Simandou is six months into construction and will take 30 months to ramp up, once complete. Chinese partners there are adept at railroad construction, but potential pressure point on timeline would be customs clearance to bring all the material in for construction of the project and associated infrastructure. Labour tightness remains an inflationary pressure across multiple regions. Progress at Oyu Tolgoi remains positive and will be the biggest lever for reaching their target of doubling group copper production by the end of the decade. Resolution, even if given the green light tomorrow, wouldn''t be producing in this decade. Acerinox (+) - Constructive on the US inflection, mitigating strike impact in Europe There have been no signs of restocking yet with EU apparent demand unlikely to improve before the summer. We note that Acerinox can leverage its global footprint to...