Related News:Latin America Commodities .Collahuasi Declares...

Related News:Latin America Commodities .Collahuasi Declares Force Majeure as Copper Port Shut
By Matt Craze - Dec 21, 2010 4:49 AM GMT+1000
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Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plcs Collahuasi venture, the worlds third-largest copper mine, declared force majeure after an accident closed down its port.

Collahuasi wont ship copper from the Patache port in northern Chile until further notice, Bernardita Fernandez, a company spokeswoman, said today in an e-mailed statement.

Three workers died after a ship-loader at the port collapsed on Dec. 18. Collahuasi is evaluating the extent of the damage and time for repairs, Fernandez said. Force majeure is a legal clause invoked by companies when they cant meet obligations because of circumstances beyond their control.

A disruption at Collahuasi is set to further tighten supplies of copper in a market where prices have risen to a record because of increasing demand and a decline in warehouse stockpiles. Copper for delivery in three months rose 1.4 percent to $9,201 a metric ton in London.

Part of the firmer tone in copper prices today is attributable to the Patache accident, Edward Meir, a senior commodity analyst at MF Global Holdings Ltd. in Darien, Connecticut, said in a report today.

A month-long strike by unionized workers at the same mine may affect annual production targets, Miguel Angel Duran, head of Anglos Chilean operations said on Dec. 14. The strike ended Dec. 7.

Anglo and Xstrata each own 44 percent of the mine. A group led by Mitsui & Co. holds the remainder.

Collahuasi produced 535,000 metric tons last year, or 3.5 percent of global output, according to Standard Bank Plc. Its production is only surpassed by Escondida and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.s Grasberg mine in Indonesia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Craze in Santiago at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at [email protected]
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