Chile earthquake lights fire under copper price

Mining News - Copper for delivery in December jumped over 3% from yesterday’s close to 3.05 a pound ($6,724 a tonne) in midday trade. Last month copper touched a three-year high just shy of $3.18 a pound (more than $7,000 a tonne) and year to date gains are in excess of 20%.

Chile accounts for nearly 30% of the world’s copper output and some of the world’s biggest mines are located near the city of Calama in the Antofagasta region where the 5.4 magnitude earthquake occurred.

State-owned giant Codelco which operates the Radomiro Tomic and Ministro Hales mines in the region and London-listed Antofagasta, owner of the Centinela mine reported no significant damage to property or injuries and the mines were operating normally.

Chilean production declined by 9% or 245,000 tonnes during the first half of the year due to an extended strike at the BHP-operated Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper operation, and lower output from Codelco mines according to the International Copper Study Group.