Chile restarts top copper mines hit by quake

* Teniente, biggest mine halted, restarts extraction

* Export routes said in good condition from 400ktpy mine

* Codelco's smaller Andina could also resume operations

* Copper prices surge on supply worries (Updates with copper prices surging)

There is no way to get the ore to smelters, or ingots to the market. Mines can't operate without fuel or electric power. Roads, rail lines, bridges, and ports have been damaged. Banks can't carry out trade finance without communications. If you haven't unloaded your copper yet, this is an ideal chance to do so. If the markets really get the bit between their teeth and make it as high as $4.00/pound there could even be a shorting opportunity in copper setting up. With the global economy coming off of last year's sugar high, base metals are looking to go sideways at best in the near future, and possibly down.

Reuters) - All but one of Chile's biggest copper mines hit by the massive weekend earthquake had restored operations by Monday, but persistent power supply problems threatened to restrict production rates.

Copper’s talking up a storm. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. said copper ore mined from Chile, and shipped to Indonesia, will be in short supply for at least the next five years. Antofagasta Plc, which owns three Chilean mines, said a scarcity will persist for “the foreseeable future.”

BHP Billiton Ltd. said production from Escondida in Chile, the world’s biggest copper mine, will drop as much as 10 percent in 2011because of lower ore grades.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it plans to defer some output at its Grasberg mine (the world’s second largest mine) in Indonesia. Citing safety reasons Freeport will forego the mining of about 130 million pounds of copper through 2014.
Global treatment fees have tumbled as smelting capacity has outpaced mine supply.

The Metal Economics Research Institute of Japan said the shortage of copper to process has pushed processing fees to the lowest level in almost 40 years. The cost of turning ore into metal - $39 a ton and 3.9 cents a pound - is the lowest since 1973.
Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s biggest copper producer, said treatment and refining charges have dropped to a level that doesn’t cover the costs of smelting in China.