Power Cuts in Japan Lead to Shutdown of Copper Smelters

14 March 2011 (Last Updated March 14th, 2011 18:30)

Two major copper smelters in Japan have been shut down due to power cuts, following the recent earthquake. Pan Pacific Copper, which is partially owned by JX Nippon Mining & Metals, has halted operations at its Hitachi refinery works. Mitsubishi Materials has also ceased it

Two major copper smelters in Japan have been shut down due to power cuts, following the recent earthquake.

Pan Pacific Copper, which is partially owned by JX Nippon Mining & Metals, has halted operations at its Hitachi refinery works.

Mitsubishi Materials has also ceased its smelter operations at the Onahama copper smelter that produces 30,0000t of copper annually, due to a lack of electricity.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit north-eastern Japan on Friday 11 March.

Japan's refined copper output stood at about 1.52 million tons in 2010, which was about 7% of the global output.

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