Sierra Resource Group Inc. (fka SIRG)

[lmcat]

And SIRG can supply a steady supply of copper cathodes as it does not have government or union problems.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s Peruvian copper mine exhausted its stockpiled ore after a strike entered its 22nd day, according to a union official.

The company’s Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA unit, where workers have been on strike since Sept. 29, shut its concentrator plant yesterday after contract workers damaged an ore-crushing facility, union official William Camacho said.

“The plant will be shut for three days, and the mine has run out of stock because there’s no blasting going on in the pit,” Camacho said today in a telephone interview from Arequipa, 750 kilometers (466 miles) southeast of Lima. “The mine won’t be able to meet its production goals.”

Workers in Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Indonesia have downed tools at copper, gold and zinc mines this year to seek improved conditions and a larger share of record profits after metal prices surged. About 8,000 workers at Freeport’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia have been on strike since Sept. 15.