On Tuesday copper for delivery in March closed more than 2% higher in New York at $2.7085 per pound or just under $6,000 a tonne. It was the highest close since June 2015 and in after hours trade the metal added to gains, last trading at $2.72.
Copper has advanced 40% since hitting near-six year lows this time last year, with most of those gains coming in the last four months.
Copper's latest leg up was spurred by worries over a possible production outage at the Escondida mine in Chile. Majority owner and operator BHP Billiton expects full-year production at Escondida of 1.07 million tonnes, which gives the mine a nearly 5% shares of global mine production.
The current collective agreement with the main union at the mine expires at the end of January and according to a production report releasedby BHP on Tuesday negotiations for a new agreement are still in progress.
Workers have already rejected BHP's initial offer and is set to vote on another management proposal this week. Given Escondida's size a prolonged outage could have a meaningful impact on the price.
Chile produces 28% of the world's copper and the country's output dropped by 3.9% in 2016, mainly due to lower production at Escondida and Anglo American Sur.
Production in the South American nation is expected to grow by 4.3% according to the Chilean government forecaster adding that Escondida would account for almost all of the expected increased output.
The post Copper price jumps to highest since June 2015 appeared first on MINING.com.
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