Proposed $2.6 Billion ASARCO Purchase Dead
October 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
by Ted Lake teddlake@yahoo.com October 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment Globe Police received a report of an erratic driver Wednesday, October 22. Upon locating the car driving westbound of U.S. 60, the officer reported to dispatch that not only was the driver driving erratically but he feared they would crash. No sooner had the officer spoken those words, the car veered off the road then back across the highway and was struck by a semi traveling in the east bound lane. Native Air was called but the driver died on scene and taken by ambulance to Cobre Valley Hospital. Tri-City assisted Globe Fire on scene. October 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment October 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment October 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
MIAMI MINE ON HOLD. Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold has decided to delay its $100 million project to re-open its Miami open pit mine which had been closed some years ago. Also put on hold were planned expansions for the company’s Sahuarita Mine southwest of Tucson and its copper mine in Bagdad, Arizona. Officials say the decisions were made because of a sharp drop in copper prices and lower profits (Copper was at $1.65 a pound last Friday–Freeport’s quarterly earnings were $523 million, a drop of $257 million from last year). Reopening the Miami mine called for 252 more jobs. One published report said by Freeport placing projects on hold resulted in various construction contracts being canceled amounting to some $370 million. A number contractors of the local area. of were affected
Freeport says its third quarter earnings “reflected strong operating performance during a period of weakening commodity prices and economic uncertainty.” Stockholders were told the costs for producing copper varied at its seven North American mines, ranging from 73 cents a pound for copper to as high as $2.12. ASARCO. A drop in copper prices and the current economic crisis are the reasons being given in this major development now before ASARCO’s Federal bankruptcy case in Corpus Christi, Texas. India’s based Sterlite Industries has decided to cancel its proposed $2.6 billion dollar agreement to purchase the copper mining assets of ASARCO. The decision was made after Sterlite attorneys had sought last week to negotiate without success a deal to reduce the purchase price of ASARCO by hundreds of millions of dollars. Locally in the
agreement were the company’s Hayden Smelter and Concentrator along with the Ray Complex where 1300 persons are employed. By not performing the terms of the contract, Sterilite is being required to pay a $50 million breakup fee. Still before the federal judge is Grupo Mexico’s $2.7 billion plan to take back the copper company it controlled prior to the August, 2005 bankruptcy. Grupo’s plan was not being supported by any of the creditors in the Chapter 11 proceedings.
QUADRA MINING. The Canadian owner of the Carlota Mining Company west of the Town of Miami will be releasing its third quarter financial results on November 4th. Paul Blythe, President and CEO of Quadra, says “the strong negative sentiment to copper and commodities generally resulted in a month end (September 30) copper price of $2.91, a drop of a dollar compared to the price at the start of the quarter.” Blythe went on to state, “The market implications will have a significant downward effect on our earnings for the quarter.” The financial report will be out at 8 a.m. PDT.
Progress continues at the new open pit Carlota Mine. Blythe says application of leaching solutions has started with the objective of producing copper cathode prior to the end of the year. He said pit operations are functioning at near full capacity while the processing plant and supporting infrastructure is awaiting solutions from the Run-of-Mine leach pad.
At its Robinson Mine near Ely, Nevada, 38.6 million pounds of copper and 30,629 ounces of gold were produced during the third quarter. The Robinson Mine is a former copper mining operation shut down by BHP in the late 1990 and was later purchased by Quadra.Officer and Concerned Citizen Witness Fatal Accident in Globe
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