Kenobi
/ 2009-03-24 15:31
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Uznany malkontent giełdowy
U.S.-based copper-mining company Asarco LLC will shut its copper smelter for six weeks and reduce the work schedule for some employees at its refinery in the coming months due to market conditions, it said in a statement last week.
The reduced working week at the refinery is scheduled to begin this week, and the smelter is planned to shutdown from mid-May to the end of June for annual maintenance.
The refinery will implement one 32-hour working week at the tankhouse and schedule 32-hour working weeks for the entire month of April at the rod and cake plants.
The company said it expects to meet all existing customer needs and will return to normal working weeks if demand from customers increases.
"These measures have been necessary to bring production and inventory into line with sales," said Joseph F. Lapinsky, Asarco's president and chief executive.
Asarco, owned by Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICO.MX), is in the process of being sold to Vedanta Resources PLC. (VED.LN) for $1.7 billion. The sale agreement requires bankruptcy court approval.
Asarco has three mines, associated mills and a smelter in Arizona, and a refinery complex in Texas which includes plants that produce copper rod and cake, precious metals and by-products.