Feeling the pinch of weak copper prices, Noranda (NRD-T) plans to suspend production at the Gaspe smelter in May. The suspension will last for at least six months.
Situated in Quebec, Gaspe is the smallest of three copper smelters under Noranda’s belt. The others are the Horne, also in Quebec, and Alto Norte in Chile.
In the first nine months of this year, Gaspe cranked out 83,000 tonnes of copper-in-annode and 220,000 tonnes sulphuric acid. Its closure will knock 15% off Noranda’s overall, annual smelting capacity and 13% off its annual cathode output at the CCR refinery, also in Quebec, to 315,000 tonnes.
The decision follows a poor third quarter, in which Noranda recorded a net loss of $60 million. The loss erases profits earned in the first half of the year to leave the major with a 9-month loss of $8 million –dramatically less than the $222 million earned in the first nine months of 2000.
About 300 employees will be affected by the shutdown.
Spot copper finished yesterday at US69cents per lb., up a cent from the previous close but still down 17% from January closes.
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