Markets: Miners reassure investors after Chilean earthquake

Firemen help in the evacuation of people towards a high zone due to a Tsunami alert after an 8.2 Richter scale earthquake in Valaparaiso

Miners reassured investors today after an 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile, the world’s biggest copper producer.

Chile supplies around a third of the world’s copper and Glencore Xstrata, Anglo American and Antofagasta all have mines in the South American country.

But all said today that their operations were unaffected by the quake. Most mines are built to withstand quakes, which Chile is prone to.

The clarification boosted miners, with Antofagasta up 15p to 854.25p, Anglo American rising 18p to 1539.5p and Glencore Xstrata climbing 1.45p to 310.82p.