Empresa Nacional de Petroleo’s halted Aconcagua oil refinery may be fixed from earthquake damage within six days, while the state oil company’s Bio Bio unit will take longer to resume operations, Gonzales said. He didn’t say how long it would take to restart the mines.
Chile’s magnitude-8.8 earthquake early this morning, which killed at least 214 people, led four copper mines that produce about 16 percent of the country’s output and two oil refineries to halt operations because of power cuts. The temblor also severed the country’s main highway, destroyed bridges and apartment buildings and knocked out electricity.
Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, said yesterday the El Teniente and Andina mines halted operations because of the power outage. Anglo American Plc said its Los Bronces and El Soldado mines in Chile stopped operating for the same reason.
Copper accounted for about half of Chile’s $53 billion of exports last year. The country’s production of the metal used in pipes and wiring climbed 0.7 percent to 5.4 million metric tons in 2009. The metal’s price has more than doubled in the past 12 months as the world economic recovery boosts demand.
State-owned Codelco produces about 600,000 tons of the metal a year from El Teniente, the world’s biggest underground copper mine, and from Andina, according to its Web site. Anglo’s Los Bronces and El Soldado mines produce about 280,000 tons annually.
Northern Mines
Codelco’s mines in northern Chile, including Chuquicamata, are operating normally, said a spokesman, who requested not to be identified because of company policy. There are no reports of injuries to workers or damage to installations, he said. He didn’t say when the halted mines will resume operations.
Anglo spokesman James Wyatt-Tilby also didn’t say in an e- mailed statement when Los Bronces and El Soldado will return to normal operations.
ENAP, as Chile’s state oil company is known, plans to import diesel fuel to ensure domestic supply after shutting the two refineries, according to an e-mailed statement.
Copper mines in northern Chile operated by BHP Billiton Ltd. weren’t affected by the earthquake, company spokesman Mauro Valdes said.
Rio Tinto Group, a shareholder in the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida, located in northern Chile and owned by BHP, also had no reports of damage, London-based spokeswoman Christina Mills said by telephone.
--With reporting by Heather Walsh in Colombia, Steve Bodzin in Caracas and Sebastian Boyd in Santiago. Editors: Carlos Caminada, Ann Hughey.
Source:businessweek.com/
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