Copper prices in London rose to their highest in more than three weeks after a union shelved talks to resolve a strike at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest mine.
Union leaders at the mine, which supplied 8.5 percent of global mined copper last year, didn't pursue talks yesterday after the lack of progress at a meeting a day earlier. BHP Billiton, which owns a controlling stake in Escondida, will meet the union today at 5 p.m. local time. BHP has said it may stop deliveries to smelters in Asia and Europe because of the stoppage.
"It looks like the strike's impact to production at the mine may be quite big" as negotiations are still inconclusive, Yuan Fang, a metal futures trader at Shanghai Dongya Futures Co., said by phone today.
Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose $30, or 0.4 percent, to $8,060 a metric ton, as of 10:24 a.m. local time. Earlier, the metal gained as much as $120 to $8,150, the highest since July 14.
"We are committed to continuing discussions with the union to reach a mutually agreeable outcome," BHP's spokeswoman Emma Meade said in an e-mail today. BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, offered a rise of 3 percentage points above the inflation rate compared with workers' demands for a gain of 13 percentage points.
Copper's climb to above $8,000 a ton led to buying from traders who use charts to predict price moves, Li Ling, a trader at Star Futures Co., said by phone from Shanghai today.
"That is a good technical signal, and it means copper may rise to $8,500," she said.
Also on the LME, nickel rose $125, to $26,500 a metric ton, tin gained $20 to $8,450 and zinc was unchanged at $3,500. Lead fell $5 to $1,204 and aluminum was $25 lower at $2,560.
