Southern Peru copper output to fall in '05--report
Mon Feb 7, 2005 11:15 AM ET
LIMA, Peru, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Copper output at Southern Peru Copper Corp. (SPC.LM: Quote, Profile, Research) (PCU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , Peru's top producer, will fall around 8 percent to 785 million pounds in 2005 because of a slide in production at the company's Cuajone mine, El Comercio reported on Monday.
Copper production is expected to fall by around 14 percent at Cuajone in the southern Andes because of lower ore grades, El Comercio said, citing Southern's President Oscar Gonzalez.
Southern Peru, which is one of the world's biggest copper companies, declined to comment.
The Toquepala and Cuajone pits have a combined annual output of around 350,000 tonnes of copper concentrates. Peru is the world's fifth largest copper producer.
Southern Peru produced around 850 million pounds of copper in 2004, 50 million pounds higher than in 2003, because of higher ore grades at both Cuajone and Toquepala, the company has said.
It has yet to publish its official output figures.
Southern is majority owned by Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's No. 3 copper producer, and enjoyed a surge in earnings in 2004 because of high international metals prices.
Southern Peru's third-quarter net profit more than tripled to $132 million, compared with the 2003 period.
The company is expected to publish its 2004 earnings in February or March. |
