Reuters reported that three big Chilean ports will halt activities and top world copper producer Codelco was sending ships out to sea as a precaution pending a tsunami bound from Japan.
The Navy told ships in Valparaiso, San Antonio and Mejillones in the central and northern Chile to leave port as a tsunami could hit Chile's mainland around midnight local time
State mining company Codelco also told ships to leave ports but the company saw a minimal impact on loading of copper shipments due to the measure. San Antonio is the largest port in Chile and is used by Codelco to export copper output from its El Teniente mine.
Authorities said that at least 11 ships will leave the ports. One cruise ship was not allowed to land in Valparaiso. Activity is expected to resume in all the halted port terminals on Saturday morning.
Collahuasi said that it had no ship loading scheduled on Friday. The mine is owned jointly by global miners Xstrata and Anglo American.
Port authorities in other Latin American countries took similar measures after a devastating tsunami triggered by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan which in turn prompted tsunami warnings for several countries from the Philippines and Australia to Chile. Chile was battered by a massive quake and ensuing tsunamis a year ago though the copper industry in the north was basically unscathed.
(Sourced from Reuters)
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