SANTIAGO – The world's number-three copper mine, Chile's Collahuasi, halted all mining, plant and port operations after a worker died in an accident at its sulfide plant on Monday afternoon, mine spokeswoman Bernardita Fernandez told Reuters on Tuesday.

Operations should start to normalize on Wednesday once authorities inspect the mine, a company source said.

It was not immediately clear how the stoppage would hit output at Collahuasi, which produces around 3% of the world's red metal and is owned jointly by Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc.

The mine was beset by work stoppages, severe weather and accidents last year, triggering a 10% tumble in output to a little over 453 000 t – its lowest production figure since 2007.

Plant operator Cristian Araya died after a pump in the pools of Collahuasi's sulfides plant burst, the mine's union said on its web site. Plant operations were halted immediately after the accident Monday afternoon, while the other operations stopped on Tuesday.

Perched at 4 400 meters above sea level, Collahuasi has been battered by severe snow in the past few days, halting extraction operations from Sunday evening to Monday morning, though output was not affected.

Chile, the world's top copper producer, suffered from a wave of labor stoppages, extreme weather and energy woes last year, triggering a 3.2% fall in output to 5.24-million tonnes compared with 2010.

Copper prices rose Tuesday in line with the euro's gains after the single-currency zone's finance ministers sealed a bailout package for Greece, which increased investors' appetite for assets perceived as risky such as industrial metals.
 

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