Quake disrupts copper mine in Peru

Denver — Southern Peru Copper (PCU-N) has shut down operations at the Toquepala copper mine after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake shook the country in late June.

Operations resumed days later, with no injuries reported. The quake cut power to the mine, while damaging the railroad that ships concentrates to the Ilo smelter on the coast.

The company expects the damage can be repaired in three weeks. In the meantime, the smelter will either work off existing stockpiles or have concentrates trucked from the mine, says company spokesman Jerry Cooper.

Southern Peru does not expect production to be affected.

Toquepala is 40 miles east of Moqueaqua, where damage from the quake was most severe. Nearly 80% of the buildings in the provincial capital were either damaged or destroyed. Damage was also reported in Arequipa, the largest city in southern Peru.

Fifty miles east of Arequipa, the Cerro Verde mine, owned by Phelps Dodge (PD-N), experienced no damage, injury or disruption.

So far, 97 people have been reported killed, with 1,200 injured and more than 34,000 rendered homeless.