PASAR to resume copper processing

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ only copper smelter and refinery owned by a unit of Glencore International will resume copper processing by around middle of this year, six months after a fire halted its operations, a company official said on Tuesday.

Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp (PASAR), majority owned by Swiss commodities giant Glencore, shut in January after a fire razed its facility in the central Leyte province, destroying anti-pollution devices.

“Our people are now busy refurbishing the plant because we want it to be in top shape when we operate by middle of this year, in June or July,” J. Paul Tan, PASAR assistant vice president for industrial and community relations, told Reuters.

Tan could not give any estimate on foregone revenue from the halt in copper processing and exports, saying only it was likely to be “significant”. The company’s copper exports revenue was at $1.8 billion in 2010.

The smelter processes 720,000 tons of copper concentrate a year, or 60,000 tons a month, and the refinery has an annual capacity of 215,000 tons of cathodes, Tan said.