Rio Tinto has signed two exploration joint venture agreements with CODELCO’s 100% owned subsidiary, CCM Los Andes, in Chile. These agreements follow the first exploration joint venture agreement signed between Rio Tinto and CODELCO in January 2008. CODELCO is the world’s largest copper producer.
The new properties to be explored are the Esteli and Paloma prospects [...]

Shanghai copper fell on concern that overseas purchases by China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, may slow following a surge in imports this year and growing domestic stockpiles.
China’s copper imports rose 61 percent to 1.1 million metric tons from January to April from year-ago levels. Shanghai Futures Exchange stockpiles are at their highest [...]

Charlie Sartain, chief executive for copper at Xstrata, one of the world’s largest mining companies, said the growth in Chinese demand for all commodities was “just phenomenal,” and prices may rise for the next few years as a result.
Demand for copper in China may increase 8 percent to 10 percent this year compared with last [...]

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s $25.9 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp. was approved today, a deal that would create the world’s largest publicly traded copper company.
In separate votes by shareholders of New Orleans-based Freeport and Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge, the buyout was approved by about 98 percent of the votes cast, the companies said [...]

Copper futures in Shanghai rose for a third day, as falling global stockpiles indicated improved demand for the metal used in wires and pipes.
Copper stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell for a third day yesterday, declining 1.2 percent, to 203,650 metric tons. Copper in warehouses booked and due for future delivery to buyers, [...]

Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, said it reached a new wage agreement with a group of workers at its largest mine, averting a strike.
A union representing about 530 workers at the Chuquicamata copper mine in northern Chile voted Wednesday to accept a wage offer after Santiago-based Codelco reduced the length of the contract, union [...]

Copper and other key industrial metals prices were firm on the London Metal Exchange on Friday as traders assessed the likelihood of fresh Chinese buying.
“We’ve seen copper correcting then holding at a level, but our view is that there will be Chinese buying after their New Year holidays,” a fund manager said.
Copper ended the day [...]

Chile’s budget surplus climbed in 2006 from a year earlier, bolstered by revenue from government- owned Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer.
The government budget surplus widened to 6 trillion pesos ($11 billion), or 7.9 percent of gross domestic product, higher than an October forecast for a surplus of 7.6 percent of GDP, said Budget Director [...]

Copper rose the most in two weeks in London and nickel traded at a record for a seventh day after China, the world’s largest consumer of industrial metals, said its economy expanded at the fastest pace in 11 years.
Gross domestic product in China expanded 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the [...]

Copper, zinc and nickel bounced back on Wednesday after losing ground since the start of the year, but the market is vulnerable, analysts said.
“We are seeing a recovery in nickel and zinc…the two that had been hit the hardest by the selling over the last few days,” analyst Kevin Norrish at Barclays Capital said.
“It is [...]