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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (44712)	10/7/2009 10:34:56 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197060

Pan Pacific Copper: Concentrate Supply Tight In 2H Tue. October 06, 2009; Posted: 11:52 PM tradingmarkets.com SINGAPORE, Oct 06, 2009 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- PPFP \| Quote \| Chart \| News \| PowerRating -- Japan's largest copper smelter Pan Pacific Copper Ltd., or PPC, said Wednesday its projected 1.6% on-year fall in copper output in the second half of fiscal 2009-10 to 286,000 metric tons is due to tight supply of copper concentrate, its key raw material. Yoshihiro Nishiyama, director at Pan Pacific, said limited supplies of copper concentrate from mining suppliers meant they would be unable to build up sufficient copper anode inventory ahead of a maintenance shutdown at its Saganoseki smelter to maintain production of copper cathode (refined copper) at the same level as the first half. "The Saganoseki smelter is going to shut down for periodical maintenance during November and we could not pile up anode inventory to fulfill tankhouse operations during this time due to limited supply of raw materials," he said. PPC's preliminary estimate of first-half (April to September inclusive) output of copper cathode is 298,800 tons, implying output will be 4.3% lower in the second half. Nishiyama said sulfuric acid (a byproduct of the smelting process) storage wasn't a factor in the lower refined copper output projection. "The demand and supply balance for acid in Japan is tighter than we expected," he said. He said many sulfuric acid suppliers had scheduled shutdowns in the fourth quarter of 2009 at the same time as domestic demand was in the process of normalizing. "Overseas demand is also steady due to the high season for the fertilizer industry," he said. Sulfuric acid is a key raw material for the production of phosphoric acid, used for manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. PPC is operated as a joint venture by Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co. (5706.TO) and Nippon Mining & Metals Co. -By James Campbell, Dow Jones Newswires, +656415-4082; james.campbell@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-06-09 2352ET