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Title: Companions and competitors: Joint metal-supply relationships in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mines

Abstract

Firms that extract and produce multiple metals are an important component of mineral supply. The reaction of such firms to changes in their relevant output prices is tested econometrically for five metals using a panel representing more than 100 mines across the time period 1991-2005. Here, the estimation strategy is drawn from joint production theory, namely a flexible form, dual revenue approach with seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) estimation. The results indicate that multi-product mines respond (in the short run) to higher prices of a particular metal by reducing output of that metal (indicative of low-grading behavior) and increasing and/or decreasing output of joint metal products (indicative of substitutes and complements in supply). As a result, the price responses are not readily explained by a metal's classification as a by-product or main product based on revenue.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office
Contributing Org.:
Critical Materials Institute, Ames, IA (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1361430
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11358
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Resource and Energy Economics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 49; Journal ID: ISSN 0928-7655
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS; multi-product; joint production; mining; metal supply

Citation Formats

Jordan, Brett Watson. Companions and competitors: Joint metal-supply relationships in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mines. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.05.003.
Jordan, Brett Watson. Companions and competitors: Joint metal-supply relationships in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mines. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.05.003
Jordan, Brett Watson. Sat . "Companions and competitors: Joint metal-supply relationships in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mines". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.05.003. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1361430.
@article{osti_1361430,
title = {Companions and competitors: Joint metal-supply relationships in gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mines},
author = {Jordan, Brett Watson},
abstractNote = {Firms that extract and produce multiple metals are an important component of mineral supply. The reaction of such firms to changes in their relevant output prices is tested econometrically for five metals using a panel representing more than 100 mines across the time period 1991-2005. Here, the estimation strategy is drawn from joint production theory, namely a flexible form, dual revenue approach with seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) estimation. The results indicate that multi-product mines respond (in the short run) to higher prices of a particular metal by reducing output of that metal (indicative of low-grading behavior) and increasing and/or decreasing output of joint metal products (indicative of substitutes and complements in supply). As a result, the price responses are not readily explained by a metal's classification as a by-product or main product based on revenue.},
doi = {10.1016/j.reseneeco.2017.05.003},
journal = {Resource and Energy Economics},
number = ,
volume = 49,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {6}
}