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Heavy machinery at First Quantum's Frontier copper mine in Fungurume, southern Democratic Republic of Congo.KATRINA MANSON

First Quantum Minerals , which reported first-quarter profits Monday, is somewhat of an anomaly in the mining world right now.

Never mind that the stock is up 3 per cent even though first quarter profits missed consensus analyst estimates. More important, First Quantum is up about 19 per cent this year. That shouldn't be that surprising, because gold is still about $1,500 per ounce and copper, despite falling this year, is still above $4 (U.S.) per pound.

First Quantum's performance stands out because the stocks of so many large cap miners have plummeted this year.

Start with Quadra FNX Mining , which reported quarterly numbers last week. The stock is down 17 per cent year-to-date even though copper is down about half of that over the same period. Rival copper miners in the same boat include Southern Copper Corp. , which is down 25 per cent since Jan. 1, and Teck Resources , which is down 21 per cent year-to-date. (Though, keep in mind that Teck mines a number of commodities.)

Things aren't much prettier on the gold side. Last week Kinross Gold chief executive officer Tye Burt had to face shareholders at the company's annual general meeting with his company's stock down 23 per cent since Jan. 1. There are also firms like Yamana Gold , which is down 10 per cent ths year.

It's hard to attribute a sweeping or overarching cause to each firm's dismal performance, because some have operational issues while others don't. What matters most is simply seeing the trend.

And to be fair, some stocks have popped, but these are typically involved in a takeover, such as Equinox Minerals, or have takeover rumours swirling, like Lundin Mining.

For contrast, gold is up 6.4 per cent year-to-date, and copper is down 8 per cent over the same period.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 27/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
FM-T
First Quantum Minerals Ltd
+6.83%14.23
K-N
Kellanova
0%56.65
K-T
Kinross Gold Corp
+3.49%8
KGC-N
Kinross Gold Corp
+1.19%5.95
LUN-T
Lundin Mining Corp
+2.06%13.4
SCCO-N
Southern Copper Corp
+0.37%104.71
TECK-N
Teck Resources Ltd
+0.43%44.11

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