Punitaqui Owner Sinks Into Administration

Australian miner Tamaya Resources, which owns the Punitaqui copper operations in Chile, has gone into voluntary administration and appointed Ernst & Young as administrator. In a letter to the ASX, the miner says that “the unprecedented collapse in copper prices in the past two months has resulted in copper prices reaching levels where it is not possible for Tamaya to repay debt to lenders and operate in an orderly fashion.” Subsidiary Iberian Resources, also under administration, says that it will not be able to meet its financial commitments either, and blames the collapse of the financial markets and commodity prices as well as “the withdrawal of funding support” from Tamaya. Copper is trading at around $1.90/lb. In June, it traded as high as $4.00.