Timmins, Ontario – Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
A shortage of third party copper concentrate is forcing the Kidd Metallurgical Site to temporarily suspend its copper operations. Effective the week of September 7th, the Kidd Metallurgical Site will start a temporary shutdown of the Copper smelter and refinery for a period of seven to ten weeks.
“In addition to reduced shipments from some of Kidd’s regular suppliers, concentrate availability is being compounded by the current Vale Inco strike in Sudbury”, explained Thompson Hickey, General Manager at the Kidd Metallurgical Site.
Xstrata Copper Canada’s Management Team has taken great care to look at all the potential solutions to this issue, trying to minimize the impacts on employees and the local community. Some employees will be laid off temporarily, although the numbers and duration have not been finalized.
“We will make all possible efforts to support our employees through this period and we hope to be in a position to return to normal operations at the site as soon as possible,” added Thompson Hickey.
The Kidd Metallurgical Site will continue to operate its facilities safely and responsibly, in strict compliance with its Sustainable Development Policy.
Ends
Media contact
Louis-Philippe Gariépy
Manager, Corporate Affairs
T: +1 (514) 645-2311, ext. 2162
E: lpgariepy@xstratacopper.ca
Notes to editors
ABOUT XSTRATA PLC
Xstrata is a global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss Stock Exchanges. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Xstrata maintains a meaningful position in seven major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc, with a growing platinum group metals business, additional exposures to gold, cobalt, lead and silver, recycling facilities and a suite of global technology products, many of which are industry leaders. The Group's operations and projects span 19 countries.
ABOUT XSTRATA COPPER
Headquartered in Brisbane, Xstrata Copper is one of the commodity business units within the major global diversified mining group Xstrata plc. Its operations and projects span eight countries: Australia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Canada, the USA, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Its operations are administered by five separate divisions, based close to the mining operations, namely the North Queensland, Minera Alumbrera, North Chile, Southern Peru and Canada divisions. It also has a recycling business (Xstrata Recycling) with plants in the United States and offices in Canada and Asia.
Xstrata Copper is the fourth largest global copper producer with annual attributable production capacity of over one million tonnes. Its world-class portfolio of six copper development projects provides the potential to double annual production through organic growth.
ABOUT KIDD OPERATIONS
Located in Timmins, Ontario, the Kidd Creek Operations comprise separate mining and metallurgical facilities. The Kidd Mine is focused on developing and sustaining economic mining plans for the Kidd Creek ore body, while the Kidd Metallurgical Site concentrates on becoming a competitive mineral processor and metal producer for both company-sourced and purchased feeds.