Copper Rises in N.Y. After Freeport Failure at Indonesian Mine

By Millie Munshi

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose after Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's biggest publicly traded producer of the metal, reported a mining disruption in Indonesia.

Freeport, based in Phoenix, lowered its near-term sales outlook, citing a ``small-scale failure'' at Grasberg, the world's second-largest copper mine. The price of the metal has more than tripled in the past five years partly because of supply disruptions.

``The fear premium over supplies will support prices,'' said Matthew Zeman, a metals trader at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago. ``We could see a small bounce in copper.''

Copper futures for December delivery climbed 0.9 cent, or 0.3 percent, to $3.096 a pound at 9:28 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Before today, the metal gained 1.5 percent this year.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose $50.25, or 0.7 percent, to $6,880.25 a metric ton ($3.12 a pound).

To contact the reporter on this story: Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net