[全球金属]

　　文华财经（综合编译 刘娜）--据KALGOORLIE8月6日消息，加拿大锌铜生产商Teck Cominco公司生产部主管周一表示，铜精矿市场紧俏推动铜的加工精炼费用过低，冶炼厂面临着

　　DJ Low Copper Fees Driving Smelters Out Of Business-Teck Cominco

　　 KALGOORLIE (Dow Jones)--Tightness in the copper concentrate market has driven

　　fees to turn concentrate into refined copper so low that smelters face going

　　out of business, the chief operating officer of Canadian zinc and copper

　　producer Teck Cominco (TCK) said Monday.

　　 "Smelters and refiners cannot sustain production, and something will have to

　　change," COO Peter Kukielski said at the Diggers and Dealers mining forum.

　　 Smelters have to compete for concentrate from miners and therefore have to

　　lower their charges to turn concentrate into refined metal.

　　 So-called treatment and refining charges are a key source of revenue for

　　smelters. Scant availability and new smelting capacity, particularly in China,

　　have driven treatment and refining charges in the spot market to around $25 a

　　metric ton and 2.5 cents per pound respectively, while 2007 midyear contracts

　　have concluded around $60/ton and 6 cents/lb. This is down from $95/ton and 9.5

　　cents/lb last year.

　　 Some Chinese smelters have announced production cuts of 10%-15% to reduce

　　their reliance on their imported concentrate.