Chile's Collahuasi To Make Copper Shipment Using New Port

Chilean mine Dona Ines de Collahuasi will use the northern port of Arica to make another shipment of copper concentrate this week, despite declaring force majeure on its copper concentrate sales contracts on Dec. 20, a company spokeswoman 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 mine, one of the biggest in the world, will now also use the Arica port to make copper shipments, after it recently said it's commercializing some 70% of production mainly through the Altonorte Smelter, owned by its shareholder Xstrata Copper Chile, and through the Antofagasta Port.

The company spokeswoman couldn't confirm how much copper Collahuasi would be shipping through the Arica port.

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, the mine 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.

Chile is the world's leading copper producer, accounting for nearly 35% of global supply.

-By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8929; [e-mail]