I will ride this one out whatever it takes.Equinox Needs...

I will ride this one out whatever it takes.


Equinox Needs Equipment as Fire Delays Copper Mine (Update1)
By Jesse Riseborough

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Equinox Minerals Ltd., developing Africa's largest copper mine, will need to buy new equipment after a fire damaged the main transformer, delaying completion of the $760 million project in Zambia.

``We don't know exactly what's caused it and we don't know exactly how long it will take to rectify,'' Michael Klessens, chief financial officer of the Toronto-based company, said today by phone from Perth, Australia. The project, expected to produce 169,000 metric tons of copper a year, was scheduled to start first output of concentrate this month and deliveries in August, he said.

Copper in London rose to a record this month as mining companies struggle to meet surging demand for the metal used in pipes and wires. Replacement of the damaged transformer may take as long as four months, Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty said yesterday.

``Certainly if it's that sort of length of time it would obviously delay things,'' Klessens said. ``We are hopeful of sourcing something sooner than that. We will know something more over the next few days.''

Equinox fell 10 cents, or 2.4 percent, to A$4.03 at the 4:10 p.m. Sydney time close on the Australian stock exchange. It fell 8.2 percent yesterday, the most in more than three months, after reporting the fire would delay the project's completion.

``At this stage it certainly seems that'' production will be delayed, he said ``There will be obviously some damage and we will need to source some equipment.''

Ausenco Ltd., the Australian engineering firm working on the project, said today the fire will increase costs by A$8 million and an investigation is in progress. It didn't expect to need to make further provision for the incident.

``The group was expediting the replacement of damaged equipment,'' Chief Executive Officer Zimi Meka said today in a statement. ``Commissioning work was continuing in other areas of the plant.''