Chile Collahuasi Mine Shipping Out Copper Despite Force Majeure

Chilean mine Dona Ines de Collahuasi is shipping out copper despite declaring force majeure on its copper concentrate sales contracts on Dec. 20, the mining company said Monday.

Collahuasi survived a 33-day labor strike that ended in early December without a contract suspension and met all its copper-shipment commitments during the strike. However, a post-strike accident at its Patache port forced the company to evoke the contract suspension.

"The company is commercializing approximately the 70% of production mainly through Altonorte Smelter, which belongs to its shareholder Xstrata Copper Chile, and the Antofagasta Port," Collahuasi's new chief executive, Giancarlo Bruno, said in a statement.

The mining company noted it was also looking to ship its copper out of other ports in northern Chile, such as the port of Arica.

It doesn't known when operations at its Patache port could resume as the cause of the accident is still being investigated.

Collahuasi is controlled by diversified mining companies Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN) and Anglo American PLC (AAUKY, AAL.LN), each holding a 44% stake in the mine. A consortium led by Mitsui & Co. (MITSY, 8031.TO) holds the remaining 12%.

With an annual output of around 550,000 metric tons of copper, it is one of the world's largest copper mines. It is located 185 kilometers southeast of the port of Iquique, high in the Andes Mountains at 4,400 meters above sea level.

-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8919; [e-mail]