Chile's energy crisis powers copper's rise  

The Australian has a report on Chile's supply difficulties with energy and the impact these are having on global copper prices.

THE copper price is predicted to continue rising after breaking through the $US4/lb mark for the first time as the Chile power crisis deepens. Chile's domestic users are bracing for possible cuts to their supply because a drought has caused dams feeding hydro-electric generators to run critically low and Argentina continues to deny the country gas supplies. Chile produces about 40 per cent of the world's copper and the power crisis is threatening production of the base metal at a time of insatiable demand, from China in particular.