Gold Silver Reports — A bunch of news in Copper arena has made the contacts quite intesreting. Speculative activity is on the rise. Grasberg has begun a staged restart of operations. With production of copper concentrate expected to steadily rise as the mine gets back up and running.

That comes after Freeport shut down Grasberg copper concentrate output on February 11. A consequence of ongoing disputes between the company and the government of Indonesia over contract terms for operations here.

At the time, the government had been threatening to enforce a ban on exports of unfinished copper n++ a regulation thats been an on-again, off-again issue for Indonesia miners since 2014.Some 2500 workers at Escondida, a sprawling mine complex in the Atacama desert, went on strike on February 9 demanding higher salaries. The 42-day shutdown has now tied the record for the longest mining strike in Chilean history, set in 2009 at BHPs Spence mine.

With no breakthrough in sight, it looks set to break the record today. The miners union has said it is prepared to stay on strike for two months. The Chilean government estimates the strike has so far dented copper production by 110,000 tonnes. Escondida normally supplies some five per cent of global copper output 927,000 tonnes a year.

Indian Copper was up 0.31% to trade at Rs 383.15 per kg. The prices of Copper tested a high of Rs 383.40 per kg and a low of Rs 381.50 per kg. — Neal Bhai Reports