Commodity bust may claim Mexico copper firm

Santiago, US

COBRE DEL MAYO SA spent US$2.40 on every pound of copper it sold in the first half. With the price at US$2.45 and a US$12 million bond-interest payment looming, that's a problem.

A 64 per cent plunge in the price of the company's 2018 bonds this quarter shows investors are pricing in the likelihood that Mexico's Cobre del Mayo may default. It would be the region's first mining casualty amid a global commodities collapse that has rocked economies and producers from Mexico to Brazil.