never to be repeated levels, page-3

re: never to be repeated levels for gse1963 just some news on copper gse1963
have a good one

Present Copper Price Not Sustainable In Next 18 Months - BHP
November 19, 2004: 17:05 p.m. EST



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SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- Current sky-high copper prices won't last in the long run, Charles Goodyear, Chief Executive of mining giant BHP Billiton (BHP), said Friday in a press conference.

"One has to take care in looking at the price today and assuming it's sustainable over the next 18 months," Goodyear said.

Earlier Friday in London, copper closed at 144.42 cents a pound, while three- month copper closed at 139.16 cents/lb.

Boosted by huge demand from China and some industrialized countries and a lack of supply, copper prices have surged to near 15-year highs in a year-old rally after dropping to historic lows in the previous five years.

BHP will produce roughly one million tons of copper this year, said Diego Hernandez, President of BHP Billiton Base Metals. The company will continue to seek to develop high-yield, low-cost sites that will remain profitable in the long haul as the rise of copper prices will spark new production, reducing the demand overhang affecting the industry.

"We don't need prices as high as they are now to have a profitable industry," Goodyear said.

Additionally, the industry lacks quality sites and new graduates with the capacity to strongly increase copper mining output. Regarding other commodities prices, Goodyear said BHP will announce coking coal prices once it has closed a majority of annual contracts with Japanese steel mills early next year. He declined to say at what price the deals could close, but considering price developments, increases as estimated by analysts provide orientation, he added.

He also declined to comment on reports that BHP wants to take over industry peers such as WMC Resources Ltd (WMC) or Noranda Inc. (NRD).

The BHP executives spoke during a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's CEO conference, held to accompany this weekend's APEC leaders summit in the Chilean capital.

On the ongoing controversy of the Chilean government's plan to refloat a mining royalty bill, contracts signed under current rules protect BHP's current $2.27 billion local investment plan through 2007, Hernandez said.

The government's first bill died in Congress in August as it couldn't muster the necessary votes. BHP would "try to educate the constituency" but the legal framework is "ultimately up to the country," Goodyear said.

Chile is the world's largest copper producer, responsible for some 30% of total annual output.