Copper Futures Rise to $3.36 as Grasberg Death Toll Hits 17

Bloomberg reported that copper futures are headed for their longest rally since January on the back of the work stoppage at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s (NYSE:FCX) Grasberg mine in Indonesia. A tunnel collapsed at the mine on May 14 and the death toll is now at 17.

As quoted in the market news:

Copper futures for July delivery rose 1.1 percent to $3.3595 a pound at 12:19 p.m. on the Comex in New York. The price climbed for the third straight session, the longest rally since Jan. 30. BHP Billiton Ltd.’s Escondida mine in Chile is the biggest source of the metal.

Freeport, based in Phoenix, was shipping concentrate, a semi-processed ore, as of May 17, its Indonesian unit said last week. Of 38 workers who had been in a classroom in an underground training facility at the time of the accident, 10 have been rescued and 11 still may be buried under the rubble.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.