Oz Minerals Ltd, the world's No. 2 zinc miner, will take a A$100 million ($65.5 million) charge for the second half due to price adjustments caused by falling metals prices.
It said zinc output from its flagship Century zinc mine in eastern Australia, where production costs are higher than selling prices, slipped 3 percent to 125,333 tonnes in the fourth quarter versus the previous quarter.
Copper output from its Sepon mine in Laos fell 8 percent to 16,156 tonnes over the previous quarter.
Oz Minerals was created last year with the merger of Oxiana and Zinifex.
The A$100 million charge stems from negative adjustments to prices on 83,440 tonnes of zinc and 4,920 tonnes of copper sold in 2008 but scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2009. Prices of commodities are typically adjusted to previaling market prices just prior to delivery.
Zinc and copper prices on the London Metal Exchange have each fallen more than 50 percent since the start of last year.
Source: Reuters
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