Copper mines likely to be sold

London
Glencore said on Monday it plans to sell copper mines in Australia and Chile as the mining and trading company aims to reduce its debt pile.
Glencore said it would to sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile after receiving a number of unsolicited expressions of interest from potential buyers.
"This will allow potential buyers to bid to purchase either one or both of the mines and may or may not result in a sale," Glencore said in a statement.
Meanwhile, German copper producer Aurubis has just rung the bell on the start of the "mating season", the annual negotiation of term contracts for shipments in the following year.
It has announced it will be reducing its copper cathode premium from $110 per tonne over LME cash metal this year to $92 next year.
Aurubis' preemptive move will raise expectations of a similar-sized reduction in the annual premium from Chile's Codelco, the world's largest producer.