Rio Tinto declares Force Majeure at US Copper smelter affected by earthquake

Published: Apr 03, 2020 13:49 (GMT+8)

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SMM4, March 3: Rio Tinto issued a statement of force majeure on Friday, saying it was unable to supply copper to customers.

Mining giant Rio Tinto suspended operations at the Kennecott copper, gold and silver mine and shut down its smelter after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck Utah on March 18, and the company is restarting its smelter.

The Kennecott mine, which employs about 2000 people, produced 51400 tons of refined copper in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 184600 tons of refined copper throughout 2019.

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