Broker snap: Copper and platinum miners get a lift

6th Jul 2009 12:01

Mining stocks dragged the Footsie lower on Monday morning despite some positive comment from Deutsche Bank. The German bank has upgraded Latin American copper miner Antofagasta from "sell" to "hold" and bumped up the target price from 317p to 527p. Last week Antofagasta announced plans to team up with Barrick Gold of Canada to invest up to US$3bn in a copper and gold mine at Reko Diq in Balochistan, in south-west Pakistan.Kazakhi copper miner Kazakhmys also gets the upgrade treatment, with Deutsche's rating moved to "hold" from "sell". The price target has been more than doubled from 290p to 675p.Platinum producers Lonmin and Vedanta Resources are both seen as "holds" by Deutsche Bank, which has raised its price target on the former from 1031p to 1100p and on the latter from 1003p to 1419p.