This is keeping inventory down.
BHP Billiton Says Tintaya Copper Mine Remains Shut 2005-05-25 12:42 (New York)
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton, the world's largest
mining company, said its Tintaya copper mine, Peru's third
largest, remained shut for a second day because of a security
concern after protesters broke into the site yesterday.
``The decision is to suspend the operation and evacuate all
non-essential personnel at the mine,' Ariane Gentil, a
spokeswoman at BHP Billiton's London office, said by phone today.
About 500 local residents at Tintaya, 650 kilometers (404
miles) southeast of Lima, held protests for more investment in the
area, mine spokesman Mauro Valdez said yesterday. They broke into
installations, breaking windows, looting workers' homes and
starting fires around the edge of the camp, mine Vice President
Lucio Rios told Lima-based radio station Radioprogramas yesterday.
Tintaya can produce 120,000 metric tons of copper each year,
equal to about 2.5 days of global consumption forecast at 17.4
million tons for this year by the International Copper Study
Group. In the nine months to March 2005, Tintaya produced 57,000
tons of copper metal contained in concentrate and 28,000 tons of
copper cathodes, Gentil said.
BHP Billiton signed an agreement in 2003 to fund 37 local
communities allocating 3 percent of profit for social development,
Gentil said. The company declined to say if it will increase the
allocation in response to protesters' demand. ``The company is
committed to open dialogue' with local communities, Gentil said.
Demonstrators in Peru have held similar protests in the past
two years at Newmont Mining Corp.'s Yanacocha and Barrick Gold
Corp.'s Pierina gold mines, Phelps Dodge Corp.'s Cerro Verde
copper mine and the Antamina copper-zinc mine, in which BHP
Billiton holds a one-third stake.
BHP Billiton doesn't plan to reopen the Tintaya mine until
it's safe to so, Gentil said.
The shares fell 14 pence, or 2.2 percent, to close 638 pence
in London, valuing the company at 39.9 billion pounds ($73
billion).
--With reporting by Alex Emery in Lima. Editors: Osborne,
Carrigan. |
