Rio Tinto: Kennecott Copper Smelter Furnace Rebuild Planned
September 24 2009 - 7:38PM
Dow Jones News
Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) said Friday it will rebuild a smelter
furnace at its Kennecott Utah copper operation in the U.S., the
company said in an analyst presentation.
The rebuild is scheduled in two tranches, for October this year
and May next year.
Rio Tinto didn't provide details on any output loss as a result
of the furnace rebuild with the smelter and refinery producing
about 240,000 metric tons of copper cathode annually.
The Anglo-Australian miner started wage talks with its 1,900
employees in August with the Kennecott labor agreement expiring
this month. Rio Tinto said it has a good relationship with the
workforce but has a contingency operating plan in place in case of
a strike.
Potential strikes at a number of South American operations
overhang the copper market with a strike at the Spence copper mine
in Chile possible as early as next week.
Like mining rival BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) in a recent
presentation, Rio Tinto tipped tight supply in the future because
of declining global copper reserves and falling ore grades.
"Assuming a long-term growth in demand of 2.5% until 2030, an
average of 30 million tons of contained copper will need to be
added each year just to maintain current reserve life," Rio Tinto
said.
-By Elisabeth Behrmann, Dow Jones Newswires;
61-2-8272-4689 elisabeth.behrmann@dowjones.com