PASAR cuts production at copper refinery
| 12/01/2009 4:59 PM
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MANILA - The Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. (PASAR), the country's sole copper smelter and refinery, said on Tuesday its refinery will operate at a reduced rate after a shutdown of at least 4 days last month due to a boiler leak.
The company told its clients in a statement its cathode production will be reduced by about 20% starting this month.
"Although we have resumed smelting operations on Nov. 26, our tank house operation is subsequently affected by the lack of anodes. Our refinery therefore will operate at a reduced rate until such time that we have enough anodes to fill the tank house to its full capacity."
PASAR, based in the centre of the Philippine archipelago, buys its copper from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
The smelter has capacity to produce around 246,000 tons of copper anode while the associated refinery can produce 215,000 tons of cathode annually, according to Reuters Metal Production Database.
Before the incident, MPD forecast refined output of 181,000 tons in 2009.
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